Return to Me
by FlyinBison
Summary: A follow up to my "Red Robin" fic AU . 1-2 years later, things attempt to settle back down. But Robin has changed and things are far from normal. Never forget...dreams and happiness always come with a price. Shonen-ai undertones and pairing.
1. He is Here

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes:** This is a short follow up to my "Red Robin" fic. While I've planned out a few chapters it won't be nearly as long as the original fic. The idea came about whilst I was in a particularly dark mood and decided to subject poor Dick Grayson to a bit more "torture." However it wasn't until I received some encouragement by a reader to get me to go with this and do this. So now, let's twist the knife once more, for old time's sake shall we?

**Return to Me**

"_I will always be here for you…_

**Chapter 1: He is here**

_...Dick..._

Someone was calling his name again. It was a very soft sigh of a whisper. Lately he had been hearing it quite a bit and noticed it especially when he was alone. Just last week and even yesterday during patrol he could have sworn someone was calling his name over and over again...yearning for him...throughout the entire night. It was enough to make a man go crazy. Nothing in particular set it off and he didn't know what to make of it.

_...Dick…_

"DICK!" Starfire's shriek pulled him out of unconsciousness. With a gasp, Robin's eyes snapped open. Suddenly everything came back to him. They were fighting at the east docks when he had been abruptly blinded sided. Quickly, Dick shifted his body to right.

_Crash!_ Plasmus' gelatinous fist shattered the pavement inches from Robin's head. With a sweeping flourish, Dick jumped back on his feet, ready to continue fighting. However, he was too late. Despite Starfire's struggling, Plasmus enveloped her completely, taking her deep into his radioactive core.

"Kory!" Robin's eyes widened, "Titans! We have to get her out of there, now! Plasmus' acid is going to digest her if she doesn't suffocate first."

"Workin' on it!" Cyborg nodded as he discharged his sonic cannon.

Leaping up into the air, Dick whipped out several cryo-disk explosives and showered them down at Plasmus. On contact, one by one, the disks detonated. Long spirals of ice instantly crackled across Plasmus' exterior, freezing him in mid motion within a fraction of a second.

"Ahhhh!" Knuckles white, Dick swung his Bo staff back and forth across the frozen blob. Slowly, small, frozen pieces of Plasmus began to chip off. He had to work fast. He had to get Kory out before the ice melted.

_Barbara!_ _I'm coming!_ The memory of himself struggling to break the ice wall in Mr. Friese's ice cavern to save Barbara flitted across his mind. Why was he thinking of that now?

_Ching! _All of the sudden, Dick's metal alloy staff shattered. Throwing the fragments to the side, he pounded his fists against the rock solid muck before him. His fists began to burn as he felt the knuckles of his gloves begin to tear away.

Finally, the weakened ice cracked and fell to the ground, exposing an unexpectedly soft inside.

"Kory!" Out of breath, Robin clawed madly, the soft mud-like substance running between his fingers, "Kory can you here me?" Dick's eyes, throat, and fingertips began to burn as the Plasmus' radioactive exterior was quite caustic and fumous. "Kory!!" Dick's eyes began to water.

As time past, Robin clawed more and more frantically. It was like no matter what he did. No matter how hard he dug, everything would just fill in and smooth over with more slippery muck. As the ice began to melt, water mixed with the sludge making it run more fluidly over Dick's hands.

"Dick! Get back," Robin finally heard Cyborg who had been shouting at him. His voice came from far behind Dick.

"Dude! Look out!" Beast Boy shouted.

The sun and summer heat had made the ice very thin very quickly. Robin whipped his head up just in time to see Plasmus break through the top of the ice shell.

"Reeah!" Plasmus let out a multi-harmonic hiss and shook off the rest of the ice fragments.

Dick's eyes grew wider as he found that he could not pull away. His hands were now completely buried within Plasmus. He took in a deep breath as Plasmus, unfazed by the sonic and telekinetic blasts from the other Titans, descended down upon him.

"Robin!" Raven gasped.

The Titans let out battle cries together as they attacked Plasmus with everything they had, filling the air with smoke and dust. The smoke hung heavily in the air in an odd pause after the onslaught. "Did we get him?" Cyborg began to relax his cannon.

With a roar, Plasmus leapt out of the smog, spitting acid at the remaining Titans.

"It's no use," Raven flew back, swiftly dodging the acid, "he's gotten too big!"

Just as Plasmus began to advance on them, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and began to jerk around and twitch.

Suddenly, there was a muffled bang and all of Plasmus' eyes widened as if shocked. Ice crystals burst out from beneath the surface of Plasmus' body, one or two popping a few of his green eyes.

"Whoa," was all Beast Boy said while the rest remained silent.

Despite Plasmus' violent thrashing, the ice crystals grew larger and more frequent, overtaking him. Finally, he fell to the ground, face down and frozen solid. Cold steam rolled off his body.

Slowly, the Titans crept up towards the fallen heap that was Plasmus. All of the sudden, with a shout, Robin came bursting out of the frozen heap with Starfire in his arms. The ice fragments glistened in the sun as they fell from the air.

"Robin!" Everyone gasped.

Though he was heaving and coughing, Robin laid Kory down on the pavement and began to perform the set mechanical motions of CPR. "Come on Kory. Come on. Stay with me now."

After a prolonged moment, the Tamranian finally coughed and gasped. Dick smiled weakly, resting his hand on her smooth cheek.

Heart still pounding, Dick flinched when Raven touched his shoulder. "Sorry, Raven," he said, "you scared me."

The corners of Raven's lips curled slightly in a mild smirk, "I seem to have that affect on a lot of people. She took Dick's hand and removed the glove, "But let Cy and Beast Boy take care of Kory and I'll heal those acid burns for you."

"Raven, it's OK," Dick insisted, still out of breath, "I'm fin—"

_Dick…_ a whisper caused him to glance behind him and then, upon seeing no one, look around quickly.

"Kory, was that you?" Was he imagining things, again?

"Robin," Raven furrowed her brow, "Your hands are…they don't have any burns... Robin you're--"

_Dick…_ When he heard the voice a second time it was unmistakable. He would know that voice anywhere. "…It can't be…" Eyes wide, Robin turned back around slowly.

_My God..._

There he was. Just beyond Raven, standing on the edge of the dock in the far distance, a flock of seagulls flying past him and out towards the bay. Their shrill cries echoing in the wind. Their pure white wings, his white trench coat, and his platinum blonde hair reflected beautifully in the golden sunlight.

He was watching Robin. _How long had he been watching him? _He was smiling at him. His blue eyes were grinning…_Those eyes…_

"No…it can't be…" Dick rose slowly.

"Robin?" Raven's voice fell on deaf ears. Before she could stop him, he was gone, breathlessly sprinting towards the distant dock.

**Author's notes continued:** OK, I admit that this chapter was a bit short and things were a bit sudden but I figured it was best to get started in the middle of action. I'm not sure if this will be as good as the first fic, but there is a plot…a small little plot. Besides this is just for fun and I hope you guys enjoy it.

Let me know what you think! Comments are always good .

(PS Again, thanks to the reader who really gave me the motivation to start again. You know who you are :D )


	2. Relapse

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes:** Sorry about the hold up. Some things came up that I had to deal with right away and thus delayed the release of the chapter. In the words of Kakashi… "I got lost on the road to life.."

Feel free to skim Ch 1 again for a refresher. But to put it in a few words...We left off with Dick running after someone he's seen in the distance that he believes is Grant while Raven has noticed something odd about Robin's hands.

Now to Chapter 2! Enjoy!

* * *

"Robin?" Raven's voice fell on deaf ears. Before she could stop him, he was gone, breathlessly sprinting towards the distant dock.

**Chapter 2: Relapse**

_Out of my way! Out of my way!_ Where had all these people come from and why were they all visiting the pier that day? Dick couldn't push through them fast enough. "I'm sorry. Excuse me." He mumbled hurriedly as he stumbled through the thickening crowd, his breath growing short.

Slowly, as he reached out further, his throat and lungs began to burn. Perhaps, Plasmus' caustic fumes had affected him more than he had thought. Or perhaps it was because he had been shouting over and over the most beautiful name that he had ever heard. _Grant…_

As Dick pushed on, more and more people obstructed Robin's view of him, seemingly increasing the distance between them with every step. _Almost there! Almost there!_ _Almost in Grant's arms… he could smell him now…_

He became light headed as he pushed past the final wall of strolling pedestrians. Coming to a full stop, Robin spun around several times. "Grant?" He whispered, his voice hoarse and out of breath. _He was right here…_

The world began to whirl rapidly around Dick. He coughed into his palm. Bringing up his hand, his eyes became sad and confused at the sight of the glistening red blood drops collected in it. Unable to catch his breath, Dick felt oddly lighter. After blinking hard a few times, he collapsed and blacked out on the dry wood of the sun bleached pier. _Where __was__ he?! He __saw__ him right here!_

"Grant…I need you…" Robin's lips barely moved as he slipped out of consciousness, "I need you now…"

The white winged seagulls cried repeatedly as they circled overhead, against the dimming orange sky.

* * *

_(Later that night…at Titan Tower…)_

_Dick…….Dick…Why couldn't you save me?_

Slowly, almost somberly Robin opened his eyes, his cheeks sticky with salt.

"Dick," Raven's voice made him jump, "we need to talk." She stood in the doorway, her shadow cast long by the bright light coming in from the corridor.

He sat up and turned his back to the cloaked shadow, casting his eyes to the floor. "If it's about the dream, again," he gripped the edge of the mattress, "the answer is 'yes, I'm still having it.' It's not a memory because it's never happened before but it never changes. Grant is always there in my arms...dying. His eyes are pleading, asking me 'Why?' And I-I can't answer him because the only thing I'm certain of is that it's my fault. It's my fault."

After a pause he finally turned and glanced at Raven, tearful. She had since walked into the room and had removed her hood so that her face was visible in the half light. Her brow was furrowed into a look of concern, "Are you sure you haven't been having any other dreams, Dick?" She stopped at the end of his bed.

Robin shook his head sadly.

"Because," she took a step forward, "when I found you past out on the docks you were saying—"

"I know," Dick interjected, "I was sure I saw him, this time." A soft smile flickered across his face at the mere thought of Grant, "I know you've told me that you'd sense his soul if he was still out there and I know you've told me that you feel nothingness when focusing on him, but," he subconsciously clutched his chest, "I guess I'm a horrible listener, Raven. You see something else tells me that he…" Robin trailed off and stared at the floor again, his fingertips still palpating the light thump of his heart beating.

Another long silence settled across the room.

"Is that why you're still taking Xynothium, Dick?" Raven broke the stillness, "To make the pain go away?"

"What?" Robin snapped his head up, "I don't know what you're talking about. I phased off of that stuff months ago."

"Did you, Dick? Because as I was saying, when I found you on the docks you were speaking, mumbling…words that aren't your own…_Addie's_ words Dick!"

_Grant, my little brave knight…Grant…my sweetie…my lucky boy. You're such a lucky boy…yes you are…such a lucky boy…my son…my only love…_

Robin's eyes grew wide as the familiar words echoed throughout his mind. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as if to stifle them.

"So," his voice quivered, "that doesn't mean a thing. I was under Slade's control for almost a year and it just means I still have some healing left to do."

"NO!" Raven, unable to keep her usual cool, finally shouted, "The Xynothium is keeping her alive in you, Dick! The Ravager's sacrifice only made her go dormant! It's up to you to finish her off! Look!" She grabbed Dick's wrists and pulled them out, "Look at your hands, Dick!"

Robin opened his eyes to stare his calloused palms.

Breathing heavily, Raven continued, "There's not a mark on them. Plasmus' acid did nothing to them…because the Xynothium still in your blood healed you. That property of Xynothium only lasts at most for a day. So if you really had stopped taking it months ago…" She trailed off and let his hands slip out of her grasps.

"I don't know how you're getting a hold of it, Dick. But you need to stop," Raven took a step back, "Even though it gives you great physical enhancement, its major side effect is insanity. I dare say it may be why you keep having hallucinations of Grant. You saw what years of taking Xynothium did to Slade."

"I'm nothing like Slade," Dick snapped back automatically, "Despite what you think I'm not dosing Xynothium anymore." He said the last part as if he had practiced it several times before. However, for some reason he couldn't meet her eyes when he had said it.

Raven cast her gaze sadly to the floor, "You know it's hardest for you to lie to me than to anyone else."

"Why? Because you've been in my mind and we share a bond?" Dick continued to speak to the floor.

"Yeah…or at least we used to…" Raven solemnly pulled her hood back over her head and turned to leave.

"Raven?" Still unable to make eye contact with her, Dick spoke with his back to the doorway, "You know I would never lie to you to hurt you…only to protect you…"

"That's what I'm afraid of," her voice was soft, faint. The door closed behind her with a cool, electronic swish.

* * *

After Raven had left, Robin tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. A few hours later, Dick, frustrated and sweating, sprang out of bed. Opening his closet, he rifled through various compartments of one of his spare utility belts until he found what he was looking for.

The tell tale red pill hardly had any time to dissolve on Robin's tongue when, suddenly, the Titan Tower alarm sounded.

In a flash, like clockwork, all the Titans assembled in the main room, suited up and ready for action. "There's been a break-in at the High Street antibiotics plant," Robin heard someone say as he ran down the hall. Having been preoccupied, Dick was the last to arrive. By the time he joined the others, Cyborg had already pulled up the security stills that had been automatically sent to the Titan's computer.

"What do we got?" Robin pulled on his gloves as he ran up beside Cyborg.

Strangely, no one in the room responded. "Guys?" Dick looked around. Everyone's eyes were fixed to the computer monitor, their mouths a gape.

"No way…" Beast Boy whispered.

"Dick…Look…" Starfire gasped.

"It's…" Raven trailed off.

Eyes wide, Robin slowly turned to face the images littering the large computer screen. Though the still shots from the security cameras were grainy and had only managed to capture half of the culprit's silhouette, the smooth dark cowl with long, dark ribbons was unmistakable.

"Ravager…" Dick said, breathless.

**Additional author's notes:** And another short chapter. I think as things build, the chapters may get longer, but we'll see. Sorry again for the long wait. But rest assured that in my time away from the fic I did manage to work the plot out even more. It's going to be a small plot (much smaller than the first fic) but hopefully it won't disappoint.

So please leave me a review or something and let me know what you think!


	3. Lost

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes:** Well here it is! Chapter 3! Again, sorry I've been so slow with my updates. But this time it's a long chapter and I promise I've made it worth the wait! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Lost**

"Ravager…" Dick said, breathless.

_This time…can it really be you?_ Robin revved his motorcycle as he wove erratically between stopped and oncoming traffic, accelerating feverishly past red lights. Though he had been the last to arrive at the Titan control room he had been the quickest to take off.

"Dick!" Cyborg's voice crackled over the radio, "Do you copy? Respond!"

Warning bells and lights blinked systematically, indicating that the bridge ahead was going to open soon to allow a large boat through.

"Dick! What are you doing, man? The bridge is out!"

Paying no heed to the radio, Robin increased his speed up the incline of the rising bridge. At almost the last possible moment he jerked the front of his R-cycle up. The motorcycle growled ferociously as they jumped the gap of the bridge pulling itself apart.

The tires squealed as he continued on the other side, hardly losing any momentum.

"Robin," Raven's calm voice came smoothly out of the ear piece next, "I know you can hear us. When you get there wait for us. We're a team, remember? Take a moment to breath and think clearly. Otherwise, you may only be disappointed, again. No matter how strongly you feel you must separate yourself from your emotions."

"_Focus, Dick! Separate yourself from your emotions!"_ the similar words of Batman rang out in Dick's memory. The last time he had heard it was when he had hastily run into Mr. Friese's lair to rescue Barbara without waiting for Batman. It nearly cost him his as well as Barbra's life.

"_Barbra, I'm coming!"_

"I'll see you guys there," Robin answered flatly after a pause. He applied more pressure to the pedal.

* * *

_(Back in the T-car…)_

"Robin seems so… distant," Starfire lowered her head in the back of the T-car.

"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Vic said concentrating on the road.

"It's because of what Slade did to him," Raven looked out at the blur of lights and buildings passing by outside the window, "When the mind remembers things it does so via a distinct pattern of memory tracks. That's why songs are so easy to remember and memory mnemonics work. Your brain doesn't use random paths when remembering things but the same and easiest ones to access knowledge and memories quickly."

A deep furrow developed on Ravens brow, "When Robin had been captured, Slade and Mad Mod used a selective brain washing technique that induced pain whenever Robin's mind tried to access memories about us. I can only imagine how tortuous it was to go through such conditioning. Especially since Robin has a personal tendency to think of things from different angles he usually develops more than one alternate memory track to almost everything. Slade would have had to…" Raven closed her eyes for a moment, "…over and over again…"

Letting out an almost tired breath, she continued, "Then, to stop Dick from using the less travelled, alternative memory tracks, Slade incorporated the use of Xynothium, which acts specifically on the part of the brain that stores memory. Since the Xynothium he was using was distilled from Addie's, Slade's wife, blood, it not only blocked Dick's alternate memory tracks when he tried to think of us, but it also replaced them with Addie's memories."

"Uh," Beast Boy yawned, "no offense, Raven, but could you please tell me why we need to know all this boring brain stuff? In the end, Robin got his memory back, right? So what does it matter what Slade did? Whatever it was, it didn't work."

"That's just the thing, Beast Boy," Raven glanced at the back seat, "It did work. It worked very well. Don't you recall when we met him after his capture? The blank stare on his face? He didn't remember us at all. Dick's mind and his feelings for us are strong and so, yes, after some time he was able to regain his memory, but not all of it."

Raven sighed again, "I've been working with him lately to help him with some of the damage, and his mind is…heavily scarred. Right now, he's only regained his most significant and strongest memories. It's the little moments, the memories that make up the essence of one's love of their family and friends that he has troubles with. There's…disconnection." She glanced back at Beast Boy again, " I guess what I'm trying to say is that he knows he cares about us very much but he can't remember exactly why. So, it's like he's…lost touch with us." When she finished her eyes came to rest on the floor in between her boots. The wind whistled furiously outside as they whipped past buildings and trees.

Finally, after a long moment, Starfire broke the heavy silence, "Is that why he has become so obsessed with this Ravager person? Is it because they became friends after Slade cleaned his brain?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy chimed in, "Is that why? It's like he doesn't care about us or…anything, anymore. Heck, ever since he's gotten back he hasn't even tried to look for his other 'obsession,' Slade. Even though Slade's long gone, I thought Robin would have had some twisty conspiracy theory by now on how Slade could still be alive. I would totally have bet money on it. But I guess we don't know him like we used to."

Vic shook his head at the road, "I don't get it, Raven. Robin is acting almost like he has a stronger connection with that assassin instead of us, his _real_ friends. Even if he met the Ravager after Slade brain washed him, it doesn't explain why he's so fixated on the Ravager, now. I mean, shouldn't all of those 'alternate memories paths,' or whatever you called them, have been reestablished once he stopped taking the Xynothium? He's been off the stuff for months. Shouldn't he have his _full_ memory of us back by now? "

Raven turned back to the window and didn't respond to any of them. They rode in silence for nearly the rest of the way.

* * *

_(At the antibiotics factory…)_

Robin killed his motorcycle engine and lights as he pulled up to the gates of the factory. "Rouge Antibiotics," a crooked, dusty sign with faded lettering read. Two fully armored security guards lay in front of the open gates, a single ninja dart sticking out the back of each of their necks. Dick habitually checked their pulses

"I'm here," Dick whispered into his radio," he peered up the building's vast silver silos and smoke stacks before moving to the second man, "guards are out cold but alive. Ravager used some kind of sleeping poison on them. These guys actually look really heavily armored for security guards. I have to say they look almost like they're from the military." Robin stood up and leaned on his motorcycle, "I bet Rouge Inc. deals with more than just manufacturing antibiotics, that is, if they really make antibiotics to being with. Ravager may be after something else they manufacture here."

"You thinkin' it's just a cover and that Rouge makes weapons?" Vic offered on the other side of his ear piece.

"Maybe," Robin whipped out his night vision binoculars, "The factory is surrounded on three sides by a rock quarry and wooded hills. The front seems to be the only direct entrance to the place. Ground is wet and gravel. I can see tracks entering the grounds," he squinted, "there maybe two sets of tracks actually…fog is settling in…makes it hard to see. There aren't any leaving yet, though. So, you guys better hurry up, because he's still in there."

Slowly, as Robin surveyed the perimeter, an eerie feeling crept over him. There was something haunting about the place; something that seemed to call out to him.

_Dick…Dick…_

Before Robin knew it, he was standing at the base of one of the silver silos looking up at it again, his grappling hook already in his hand, "I think I'm going to seek higher ground to get a better look…see if I can find the point of entry," he half mumbled into his radio.

"Dick, wai--!" As he ascended, Raven's voice on the radio faded into static. There must be something in the factory that jammed radio frequencies around it.

At the top of the silo, Dick immediately spied a broken skylight on the adjacent building. "So that's what triggered the security alarm. Hmm," he scratched his head, "that's odd…bit too sloppy for Grant's tastes."

Looking around, Robin located a grouping of thin pipes that connected the silo to the main building. Taking a small deep breath, Dick stepped onto the thickest of the slender pipes, held out his Bo staff, and quickly, with the same air he used when he walked the tight rope back at Haley's Circus, sprinted across the pipe, one foot behind the other. Though it shuttered and swayed slightly, it never gave way since he had never stopped to give it time to hold his entire weight. With a small, catlike flourish he leapt from the pipe, flipped in the air, and landed softly on the main building roof.

However, the slight, nostalgic smile that had touched the corner of Dick's lips faded quickly when his eyes came across thick, rich droplets of blood at his feet. He eyes widened slightly as they traced the crimson across the roof towards the skylight. The droplets soon became streaks and splashes thrown across the roof in almost delicate, artistic arcs. As he stared at the dark pattern, Dick could nearly imagine the graceful struggle that had occurred across the roof not long ago.

His breath already quick, Robin ran to the edge of the blood outlined skylight. A small sigh of relief escaped his lungs when he didn't see a corpse lying below. With his detective instinct kicking in, he produced a small sterile, forensic Q-tip from his belt, collected a small sample of the blood still glistening on a sharp edge of the broken skylight, and slipped it back into his belt.

"Are you hurt, Grant? Or does this all belong to the second person who's set of tracks I saw at the gates?"

Careful not to cut himself, Dick silently lowered himself into the factory. The streaks of blood were more frequent and nearly continuous on the factory floor. Ribbons of blood littered the checkered tile floor and stark, cinderblock walls. Following the heavy dashes of red with his flashlight, Dick found himself in front of a metal cabinet with its doors hanging crookedly on their hinges. The state of the art lock on the front had been violently ripped off. Clear vials of antibiotics were strewn messily about the shelves and his feet. On closer inspection, the inside of the cabinet had large smears of blood, in the thin shapes of grabbing hands and fingers. Whoever was after the antibiotics had been in a rush.

Dick squinted. The width of the finger marks actually looked too small to be Grant's or any man's for that matter. They almost looked as if they belonged to a child or young woman. He and the others would have to see if they could lift finger prints from this later.

He let out a small sigh of disappointment as he followed the blood trail further into the factory. _Maybe the security camera was playing tricks on them._ He thought as he walked through long shadows and past rows and rows of locked storage cabinets with shatter resistant glass. _Maybe Grant wasn't here after all._

In the next tiled room, Dick paused at yet another small puddle of crimson that had collected in front of a large, broken window that overlooked the actual production floor. Robin peered down at the vast maze of chutes and conveyor belts below that reflected in the sleepy moonlight. "So they really do make antibiotics," Dick marveled to himself.

Suddenly, a small noise behind Robin, brought him out of his thoughts. He swiftly turned around, jerking his flash light back and forth, quickly scanning the area. Just as he was about to let out a sight, he noticed several glistening, vibrant red streamers of blood that had crossed the doorway. _Those definitely weren't there before!_

Quickly tracing the blood with his shaking flash light Dick's eyes widened as the ribbons quickly drew closer and closer to him!

"AHHHHH!"

Dick barely had time to duck when the swinging katana came out of the shadows, straight for his neck. On the ground, Robin shifted to the left in attempt to get back on his feet.

_SHUNK!_ The silver blade glinted in the pale moonlight as it sunk into the checked tile near his head, narrowly missing him. Dick grit his teeth as he felt the side of his face begin to burn where the katana had grazed his cheek.

Robin's eyes grew wider when he caught sight of the engraved pattern on the cool blade and hilt before it was withdrawn back into the shadows. _That katana…_

"_There's no way I'm letting you get the easy way out…"_

"Grant? Is that you?" Robin called out, jumping to his feet. No sooner was he standing, was he ushered into the shadows of the room by several quick kicks to his abdomen. Relying mostly on the change in the slight air currents in the room against his skin, Dick leaned left, then right, dodging more jabs and katana slices, "Grant? It's me…Robin." He extended his Bo staff.

His attacker kept him to the shadows as his staff resonated against the steel katana. Finally, after some time, they locked weapons. Dick backed against the wall as his assailant applied more pressure. He could feel the figure's hot, quick breath against the back of his throat. Whoever they were, their form and style certainly were exactly like Grant's.

"Ah!" with a shout, Dick pushed off the wall, swinging his staff wide. _Ching! Ching!_ Striking the katana twice Dick managed to strike the blade out of his opponent's hands and pushed the mysterious attacker back several steps. Finally, he lunged, knocking the figure to the ground and into the moonlight.

Dick gasped, it was a woman! She was dressed in the Ravager's garb: the smooth dark cowl, with slanted, red lenses, and flowing black ribbons; the jet black, form fitting suit and boots; they had all been altered to fit her! A thick stream of blood originating from somewhere under her mask ran down the left side of her face and off her smiling chin.

Dick leaned on her with the Bo staff between them and across her chest, "You're not the Ravager! This doesn't belong to you!" He spat, grabbing the mask from her face, unbridling her long flowing, white hair. It lit up iridescently in the pale moonlight.

Dick's scowl suddenly melted into shock, "Rose?" The picture of a meek, voiceless girl in Slade's mansion flickered across his memory.

"No," she smiled, more thick blood streamed down her face from a smiling, empty eye socket, "Not Rose! I am daughter of Slade! We see eye to eye now!" Her right eye shimmered with an odd green, blue light, "And I have consumed Grant's blood! It runs through my veins now!" A second, eerie vision of Rose licking the blood from Grant's tortured body in a blood spattered room suddenly surfaced in the back of Dick's mind.

" I AM the Ravager!" Rose howled, "There is only one!"

Without further warning, Rose lunged up at Dick, sinking her teeth into the nape of his neck.

Robin screamed, losing his grip on the staff. With a flick of her wrist, Rose drove a long ninja dart into Dick's side. The thick, bitter taste of iron immediately entered his mouth. He coughed as she viciously twisted the dart. Like the smaller darts in the guards outside, this one was also poisoned. She pushed him off as his vision began to blur. With a smirk so very much like her father's she slipped on the Ravager mask again and picked up her katana.

Somehow, despite the heaviness that had entered his extremities, Dick stumbled to his feet, Bo staff in hand.

Rose cackled with delight before advancing on him. With ease she kicked him through the already broken window and onto the production floor below.

"Unh!" Dick groaned when struck the metal conveyor below. Fighting the fatigue settling across his entire body, he rolled over and struggled to get up, again,

A small gasp seeped out of Dick's lungs when several small, round cherry bombs fell from above and rolled in front of him.

* * *

_(Meanwhile…Outside the factory…)_

"Dick!" Raven shouted into her communicator as they pulled up to the factory gates, "Dick, can you hear me?" Stepping out of the T-car, she paced back and forth trying to obtain better reception.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, eyes wide. Her communicator hit the gravel with a dull thud.

"Raven you alright?" Beast Boy's voice pulled her out of the trance. She glanced around frantically a few times a worried look on her face.

"What is Raven?" Cyborg set a strong hand on her shoulder, "Do you feel the Ravager here?"

"Is it," Beast Boy hesitated after she didn't answer, "Slade?" Everyone was thinking it.

"No. Yes. I mean don't know…Someone else too…all this energy…in the same place… all at once…" Raven pinched her brow and squeezed her eyes shut. She let out an exasperated sigh, "It's all coming from there." She pointed at the east wing of the main building Robin had entered earlier, "Dick's in there now."

Just as they turned to look where she pointed, the east side of the building exploded, lighting up the night with bright orange and hot white. So strong was the blast that the shock wave of it blew the Titans back and off their feet.

After the burning debris ceased to fall from the sky, Raven retracted her protective shadow wings from over the Titans. "Is everyone, alright?"

"Oh dear, look! It's Dick!" Starfire now pointed upwards towards the upper floors of the burning factory.

Against the full moon and surrounded by fire, Dick continued to engage Rose. Having lost her mask in the explosion, her illustrious white locks whipped in the hot updrafts.

"Who is that?" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Something is wrong. Robin is struggling," Starfire said as they watched Dick's silhouette stumble back onto a flaming ledge, "He needs help!" She leapt into the air.

But Starfire was too late. The razor sharp katana was faster. Rose plunged it deep into Dick's abdomen.

"_Dick…Why do you want to die?"_

The question from a distant memory echoed in his brain as thick crimson streamed out of his mouth. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he finally gave into the heaviness that had been tugging on his entire body all this time. When she withdrew her sword, Dick fell back, over the crumbling ledge.

"Dick!" Tears ran down Starfire's face as Dick's limp body crashed through floors of burning wreckage, into the flames below.

Vic grabbed her ankle just as she was about to fly into the burning building, "Wait, Star. That's a chemical fire. It burns so hot that not even your Tameranian skin would withstand it."

"I do not care!" Starfire jerked her ankle away from Cyborg's grasp.

"Wait, Starfire. Look," Beast Boy shouted.

Raven's eyes grew wider.

Slowly a faint silhouette rose out of the flames and began to stride towards them. A collective gasp escaped the Titans as the figure drew nearer.

It was Grant dressed in a pure white suit. Wrapped gently in his white trench coat was Dick's motionless body. He seemed to float smoothly, almost gracefully as he walked out of the wreckage. Watching him draw nearer was almost like watching a ghost in slow motion.

Smoke and steam rolled off his shoulders as he came to set Robin on the ground at Raven's feet.

"I've given a concentrated injection of Xynothium," Grant habitually brushed the hair out of Dick's face with his finger, "it'll stabilize him for the moment but you'll have to get him back to your infirmary soon as you can to maintain him." Grant stood up slowly and turned to leave.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Raven asked, still in awe at the sight of him.

The blonde man smiled and winked, "I'm dead, remember?"

With that he slipped his hands in his pockets and began to walk back towards the wooded hills behind the factory.

"Raven," Dick murmured up at her as Grant walked away, "I almost saw him today…He was so close I could feel him…" He trailed off, passing out, again.

"Ravager," Raven called out. Grant stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around.

"The authorities will be here soon. Take Robin's R-cycle. It'll be faster. If you want, there's a map programmed in it that will take you back to the Tower. You should be there when he wakes up."

After a moment's pause Grant glanced back at her, his soft blue eyes smiling in the delicate moonlight.

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes:** Well what do you think? I know his appearance at the end is a bit sudden…but there's a reason for my insanity, trust me…or at least I think it's a reason. Hope you enjoyed it and please let me know how you feel by clicking that review button for me :D. Until next time!


	4. Awake

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes:** Well surprise surprise, everyone! Another chapter! And sooner than expected! Though this chapter is called "Awake" in regards to certain themes in it, a different title I was playing around with was "Damn it, Grayson." Read on to find out why! Let me know what you think, please!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Awake**

"_Tell me, Dick…Why do you want to die?"_

Dick awoke with a flinch and a gasp. He found himself bathed in a blinding white light, strapped naked to a chilled, metal operating table. Small surgical hooks at the edges of his quivering eyes forced them open. Several men in surgical gowns and masks leaned over him, the dark lenses of their round, operating glasses reflecting his shivering reflection back at him.

"I'm sorry," one of the figures with sharp instruments whispered close to his ear, steam seeping out from behind the mask, "I'm afraid you can't leave this world, yet. You belong to us now, remember…Ad--"

Suddenly, still tied down, he was plunged into darkness.

Robin's breath was short and labored, his heart pounding mercilessly in his chest.

"Again, Govnah?" A familiarly unpleasant voice reached his ears, "You want to get rid of more today? Are you facking mad? I dare say if ya too rough with 'im you're gonna break 'im."

"That's the point, Maddy," the second voice's manically soft tone ran pins and needles down his spine, "I _want_ to break him. Vulnerable…I want to see him truly vulnerable…Don't worry, we'll wait patiently while you calibrate the machine."

Robin's chest heaved up and down, trying to regain his breath. How long had he been screaming? Tears and sweat ran off his chin.

Gently, Slade lifted the heavy eye mask from over Dick's eyes, still fixed open by the metal hooks. At the sight of two-toned mask, Dick's nostrils flared.

A thin smile spread behind Slade's metallic mask, "And not even a plea for your life out of you, yet? Surely, you must be hurting, Dick. Your yells told me that."

Robin only gritted his teeth, the rhythm of his breath only wavering slightly. His heart jumped as Slade traced his cold leather glove along the scars across his body.

"Tell me, Dick," his finger settled on a set of scars that circumscribed Robin's left wrist, "Why do you want to die? " His fingers stopped stroking Dick's wrist for a moment as if to palpate Dick's pulse, "These scars run deep…they were your first of many. Albeit your subsequent ones didn't come from the same hands as these. You did it the first night you were at Wayne Manor, isn't that right? Alfred had to break the door down to get to you."

Robin's moist eyes shifted to the right, suggesting the assumption was true. _How did Slade know?_

"And yet, no one but the butler and I have seen these scars," Slade leaned closer and closer as he spoke, "You try to hide them. Under watches and gloves you try to cover up your death wish. Starting so young and for so long your soul has been screaming to be slain…I can hear it…"

Robin turned his gaze away from Slade, as if that simple action alone would stop his eyes from burning, "No…you're wrong, Slade."

"Oh?"

"It doesn't want to die. It wants to wake up," Dick admitted, "My entire life...in this place where people call me, 'Robin'…all of this is a very bad dream and I just want to wake up."

"Heh," Slade cradled Dick's jaw, pulling Dick's gaze back to him, "That sounds awfully a lot like Bushido, my dear little red robin." He smiled before dropping his hand out of Dick's peripheral field of view, "Though, you know, to die would be to suggest you were alive to begin with."

Dick grimaced as he felt a long, cool needle sink into neck.

With the machine now re-calibrated, Slade slowly lowered the metallic eye mask back over Dick's weeping eyes. There was a soft click after which he felt Slade press his moist tongue against the scars on his wrist before gently kissing them. "I'll arouse you from this nightmare one day, Dick," he whispered, his lips grazing Robin's skin as he spoke, "That, I promise you. But I will not wake you just yet, for I am dreaming and you are mine…my delicate victim."

It wasn't long until Dick was screaming, again.

* * *

With a shout, Robin shot up out of the infirmary bed. Realizing that he was back at the tower, he relaxed back onto the mattress. He sighed heavily before opening his eyes again. The room was dark, quiet, and, except for the shadows of idle medical equipment and vacant chairs, utterly empty. Soft white sunlight seeped in between the curtains from outside, casting the room in an ambient light. _Where was everybody?_

To his left, Dick caught sight of the wrinkled, white trench coat he had been brought in with. Immediately, his mouth went dry as his breathe left him once again. _So it wasn't a dream…_

He rubbed the coat's soft fabric between his fingertips, sliding its smooth layers back and forth over his palms. After a moment he suddenly closed his fists, clutching the coat tightly. He buried his face in it, inhaling Grant's sweet scent deeply almost hungrily.

"Oh joyous day!"

Dick dropped the coat immediately when the lights suddenly flipped on. Starfire's arms were tightly around him even before he had time to turn to see her race in from the door. "Oh joyous day!" She repeated, "You are awake! I am sorry I was not here. You see I was waiting right here like this when I realized that perhaps I should make you Glumbfner nuf. It is a traditional Tameranian soup made to give one energy and strength!"

"Thank you, Star," He coughed again when she gave him another squeeze, "But hey," he glanced at the white coat he had flung back onto the chair to his right, "Is Grant—"

"Oh dear me!" Starfire jumped up, "Speaking of Glumbfner nuf…I almost completely forgot that it was still stewing. I hope it did not become burned!" She flew out the door, "Everyone! Dear Robin is awake!" Dick heard her exclaim as she took off down the hall.

* * *

_(In the training room…)_

_Swish! Whiff!_ Though Grant had blindfolded himself, the wooden boken cut through the air with great agility and precision. _Whiff! Whiff!_ His movements were nearly dance like as he turned fluidly and leaned back and forth as if he were fighting an invisible opponent.

All of the sudden, he stopped and dropped his stance in mid-routine. "I know you're there…I can feel you, Raven. Trying to get into my head, again?" He straightened up his posture, not turning to face her, "I'm sorry, but it took a while for me to even let Dick in…and I have to admit I still haven't let him in completely, yet." He lowered the boken, peeled off the blindfold, and turned around.

"He's awake now, you know," Raven stepped out of the shadowy corner of the room.

"Is he?" Grant glanced back down at his dark boken.

"You want to see him don't you? Robin certainly has been longing to see you."

"Of course I do."

"But you hesitate?"

"Dick's changed, Raven. Even I could see that when I watched him from a distance for awhile. That is, before I made my appearance to you all the other night. I suppose I'm afraid things wouldn't be the same between us, anymore," he glanced up at Raven, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, "It's been awhile. Besides, no offense, but with you guys all around what I want to do with Robin when I see him…every time I lay eyes on him… would be kind of... awkward. Plus, yesterday, Starfire kept asking me if I was Dick's 'friend of best?' So, I take it that the other Titans aren't completely aware of our involvement together and that Dick has reasons for not telling them. I suppose I understand. Though a part of me wonders if he just has grown tired of me and wishes to forget me." He ran his fingers through his golden hair, "I guess that's exactly how I had intended it to be when I had died for…what was it?" Grant laughed, "When I had died for the…second time? And ironically both at his hands in the same way…" He slung his gym towel over his shoulder and began to gather his things.

"Who knows, Raven, maybe when I see him again, he'll kill me for the 3rd time," he said half jokingly. "I think I'll wait to see if I'm ready to see him because I don't think I'm ready to die again, just quite yet. Though I suppose according to Bushido we're actually all dead and life is nothing but a dream to be awoken from in death."

"You know it's because of that belief that those who follow Bushido believe in the idea of immediacy and/or immediate actions, don't you?" Raven called out across the room just as Grant was leaving.

"Heh," Grant smiled, "Clever girl. Somehow you always stop me from leaving. You know you're more persuasive than you look."

* * *

"Ewww, Starfire, what is that?!" Beast Boy held up his nose, "You're not going to make him eat that are you? It smells totally like my cow hooves after I--"

"Hush, Beast Boy. It is for his own good," Starfire leaned over Dick with a steaming bowl of what looked like thick bark and moss colored porridge.

"Uh, Star," Cyborg chimed in after reading Robin's worried face, "I don't know if he's exactly hungry right now. I mean he's been out for a few days and on an IV drip. We should probably slowly work him up to solid food." A bead of sweat ran down Vic's forehead as he forced a smile.

"Oh this is not solid. It is a liquid soup!" The happy Tameranian pulled up a chunk of Glumbfner nuf out of the bowl and forced into Dick's slightly scared and open mouth.

Despite turning slightly pale, Dick swallowed the spoonful of "porridge" and coughed as it went down. There was a collective sigh in the room from Vic and Gar when they saw that Dick hadn't past out.

"Good, yes?" Starfire grinned and readied another spoonful.

"Heh," Dick laughed nervously, a thin bead of sweat collecting on his brow. Before he could kindly decline another taste, she pushed the next spoon down his throat.

Beast Boy shrieked and nearly fainted, "I think I'm gonna be sick…"

"Come on, man," Cyborg supported the green changeling with his arm, "there ain't anything we can do for him now."

"Wait, guys," Dick managed to shout out between spoonfuls, his voice raising octaves as they walked away, "Why don't you take this stuff with you? It's nearly dinner time anyways and I doubt I could eat all this myself."

The door shut quickly behind them when they reached the hall. Dick backed up against his pillow, smiling nervously as the green eyed alien leaned in closer. When she reached up to touch his face, he scooted a few millimeters away for fear it held the spoon in it.

"Robin," she smiled tenderly, "I am so glad you are awake." She stroked his cheek that had since blushed in color, "I am not sure what I would do without you."

"Star…" Dick said softly. He glanced at the pure white coat lying in the empty chair next to Starfire, "I've been meaning to ask you…have you seen G—"

Robin's eyes widened when she pressed her warm lips against his, gently slipping her soft tongue into his mouth. His eyes grew wider when he heard the door open behind her.

Standing in the doorway, equally shocked, was Grant, dressed in his neatly pressed, white suit. After a moment, he relaxed his face and smiled. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, his lips still smiling, "I-I'll come back later."

"Grant," Dick managed to gasp though his heart had just dropped into his stomach, "Wait!"

Still smiling at the ground, Grant walked away with his open palm trailing behind him in a slight wave "goodbye."

* * *

"Damn it, Grayson."

On the roof of Titan Tower, Grant pulled out a thin cigarette and lit it. He hung his legs over the edge of the tower as he puffed the cigarette slowly.

Suddenly he lurched forward, doubling over, clutching his head and his sides. It felt as if something was burning and torturously tearing up every fiber within his body.

"Enjoying yourself?" A quiet voice hissed from inside head, "This is not why I gave you back your body…"

Still convulsing in pain, Grant's head whipped back up, his chin pointing to the reddening sky, "I…I know! I'm sorry," he squeezed his tearing eyes shut and grit his teeth, "It'll be done soon …I-I promise…"

"Do not forget ever again…" the voice began to fade, "…you belong to me now…"

With one last violent, twisting jerk the pain suddenly subsided. Grant fell back on the cement, out cold.

When he came to it was already dark. The butt of his cigarette lay near his head smoldering, having long gone out since it had fallen from his lips. Slowly he stood up and brushed himself off. After straightening his tie, he slipped his hands into his pockets, and headed back inside.

* * *

"Dick?" Grant gently knocked on the door before walking into the infirmary, "Are you still awake?" To his amazement, he looked up to find that he was actually talking to a small, empty indent in the middle of a mass of twisted sheets on the hospital bed. Starfire lay snoozing in a chair next to the bed with her mouth open, a bit of drool dribbling out of the corner.

"Starfire," Grant said firmly to wake the alien from her slumber, "Where's Dick?"

She gasped and glanced frantically at the open door to the empty bathroom, "I am afraid I do not know. He was having trouble sleeping but I do believe we both fell asleep together at one time. Oh dear, where could he have gone?"

Grant wasn't sure what it was about Starfire, but for some reason she just got on his nerves. _Was he jealous?_

Though he couldn't help himself, he tried to turn away as he felt his eyes roll at her so she wouldn't see. Admittedly a part of him pleaded to the heavens that this girl hadn't actually succeeded in seducing Dick before he even got a chance to talk to him.

The nightstand next to the bed was left a jar. Pulling it gently open, Grant noticed that the medicine bottles within it were disorganized and all turned on their sides as if they had been quickly gone through once. Grant's eyes instantly grew sad, "Damn it, Grayson."

Closing the drawer to the nightstand, Grant walked calmly out of the room while Starfire zipped past him down the hall calling out for Robin.

* * *

Grant heard Dick riffling around through his things before he even got to Dick's room.

"Looking for these?" Grant pulled out a bottle of the tell tale pills from his pocket.

In the far corner of the room, Robin was huddled under his blanket on all fours, looking through each and every compartment of his spare utility belts. At the sound of Grants voice he looked up from the pile of belts that encircled him, "Grant…you…" he glanced around at the mess he had made of his room, "you shouldn't see me like this." He lowered his head and turned his back on the door.

"I know, Dick…that's why I took them. You don't need these any—"

"OH you found him!" Starfire jumped up from behind Grant.

Getting over his initial start, Grant blocked the doorway and Starfire's view of Dick's room, "Do you mind? I need to talk to Dick in private."

"What's going on?" The other Titans were coming down the hall, now.

"Why do you need to speak with him alone?" Starfire asked innocently, "Why cannot we all talk to dear Robin?"

Finally the assassin let out an exasperated sigh as if he couldn't take her incredibly cute and innocent voice anymore, "Because I'm his '_friend of best_.'" He said this as cool as he could as he shut the door firmly in her face before the other Titans had reached it. Hopefully she did not detect the slight animosity in his voice.

Locking the door, he turned back to Robin still on the floor. "Oh, Dick…"

"I'm sorry," Robin voice quivered. How embarrassing it must have been to see him like this, especially for the first time after so long, "I can explain."

Grant knelt down on both his knees next to Dick and after an awkward hesitation, he gathered the young man in his arms, "What are you doing? I know these things help you sleep so heavy that not even nightmares come to bother you. I know it even makes you physically stronger to help you stop bad things from happening. I know I even used it to save you a few nights ago. But it's not meant to be taken continuously. The only reason why I take it is because the HIVE made my body dependent on it for survival. But this is not you, Dick. You can stop…"

At the mention of the HIVE, Robin shuttered. The thought of the sharp instruments and glass eyed surgeons swept through his brain, "You belong to us now...remember…Ad—Addie!"

"No I can't," he clutched Grant's arm and buried his face in the nape of his neck, "I can't lose anyone anymore! I've already lost my parents. I lost Barbra to Bruce. Hell, I even lost my name…my own mother's nickname…gone…given away to a kid who has no idea what it really means! A couple years ago, if it weren't for you, I would have lost Raven. I nearly lost Starfire last week to Plasmus and if it weren't for the Xynothium, I would have. And no matter how hard I loved you I couldn't save you! I'm tired of it. I'm tired of losing those I care most about! I need to take it to protect those I love! I need to protect you."

"I'm right here Dick. Right back from the dead," Grant tried to smile, "You don't need to worry about me."

"No, but I really do, Grant. You see, I did stop taking it as planned and you see these scars," Dick opened up the blanket and pointed at several jagged, deep ones across his shirtless chest and abdomen, "They're all new and they all happened as soon as I went off the dose. Don't you see? I'm not strong enough…I'm weak. Slade was right, all I care about I destroy."

"I understand, Dick, but if you keep taking it…My mother, Addie's not going to leave you alone. Raven told me all about the signs she's seen while working with your mind. Addie _and _her memories are still in there, right where my father put them. She'll come back if you keep taking Xynothium. And _she _will destroy everything."

Dick let out a disturbing chuckle that made even Grant gasped inside, "It's a funny thing, you know? I forgot what you looked like too…"

"What?"

"When I stopped taking it I started to have a hard time remembering what you looked like. Didn't think that could happen. And your mother…she has the best and clearest memories of you…"

"Dick," Grant's blue eyes grew sadder, though he smiled, "Didn't you hear me? You haven't lost me. I'm here now and I'm not leaving. Everything will be alright. You can look at me all you want. You're not going to need to keep her memories of me alive with Xynothium, anymore." He leaned in close to Dick's ear, "We'll make you even better ones." With that he lightly nipped then licked the lobe of Robin's ear. Dick's heart skipped a beat. Slowly, Grant brought his mouth just over Dick's, his lips grazing Dick's skin as he went.

"I'm sorry," Grant pulled back slightly, his breath tickling Dick's upper lip, "I shouldn't have done that. You and Starfire are—"

"No," Dick whispered promptly, "She and I are not…See, she comes from an affectionate culture where they…so she sorta…"

"Forced herself on you?" Grant nodded rapidly, his eyes focusing on Dick's soft, nervous lips, "Like this?"

Unable to hold himself back any longer he gently, but firmly pressed his lips against Robin's, kissing him deeply almost roughly.

Dick let out a small euphoric sigh as Grant began to work his warm mouth and tongue down his neck. The corners of the blanket slid off Dick's smooth shoulders, making way for the assassin's light caressing fingertips.

As his strong hands descended, Dick sighed again, "I've missed you..."

Soon after saying this, Robin's entire body relaxed and went limp in Grant's arms.

Grant stopped his advances, "Dick?" He gently nudged the young man now breathing softly in his arms. Something dropped out of Dick's hand and rolled across the floor. It bounced off the nearby wall and rolled back to rest at Grant's knee.

Finally, able to make it out in the half light, the blond man shook his head. It was a small, travel pill tin with a clear plastic top. Grant had thought he had taken all of the pills from Dick's room while he was in the infirmary, but apparently Robin was extremely good at hiding things in different places. He must have taken a dose while Grant was at the door way intercepting Starfire.

"Damn it, Grayson."

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes:** So…what'd you think? Was it too abrupt of a sequence? Just to let you know that Slade quote Robin is referring to is from "Apprentice: Part 1" of Season 1 of TT.

In the scene… **Robin: **All you care about is destruction. **Slade: **And all you care about you destroy.

Man…it was such a good series…so sad it ended a while ago…

Anyways, let me know what you think of the chapter! Till next time!


	5. Puppet Master

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes:** So it's been quite some time since the last update. Sorry it's taken me so long.

Please enjoy this vague quickie synopsis of the story thus far = It's been a little over a year since the end of "Red Robin." Still struggling with the loss of Grant, Dick has continued to take doses of Xynothium though this would mean keeping Addie alive in him and despite major contradictions to his physical and mental health. After a strange encounter with Rose Wilson, who claims to be "the one, the only Ravager," Grant suddenly reappears. However unknown to Robin and the other Titans, Grant's resurrection has come at a great price…and now we continue with chapter 5…

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

**Chapter 5: Puppet Master**

_(A few nights later…)_

Robin awoke with a gasp, as he had done so many nights before. He was having that nightmare where Grant was dying, again. This time, however, he remembered more of it upon waking. This time, they were trembling in the shadow of someone looming above them. Dick didn't have to look up in the dream to know _exactly_ who it was.

_Clack! Clack!_ The scarlet pills rattled against the sides of the bottle as Dick wrestled with the cap, his heart racing.

"Why," Grant's eyes had pleaded as the warm crimson ran down Robin's arms and spread in a pool around them, "why?"

"I'm sorry…"

Dick grit his teeth, a cool sweat running down the back of his neck.

"Shit!" As soon as he had gotten the bottle open, it slipped from his trembling hands, sending the tablets clattering to the cool, tiled floor.

Being sure to gather up all the pills again, he placed two aside on the edge of the porcelain sink. He then placed the bottle back into his utility belt that hung across the toilet tank. Crouching down once more, he gave the floor one final look around for any stray pills that could possibly be discovered by anyone else.

Whipping back up, he proceeded to suit up for late night patrol. It was a bit earlier than usual, but it was Raven's and his turn tonight and he might as well get ready. Strangely, a part of him dreaded getting stuck with late night patrol. It was probably going to be another slow night, especially with Slade gone.

_Did he miss Slade in some horrifying and warped way?_ _Didn't he care for Grant even more and shouldn't he be overwhelmingly thankful and grateful that he was the one who came back? _Dick shivered, a dreadful tingle moving down his spine. Even still, it was hard to accept the idea that the man who still lived infinitely in his nightmares was truly gone. _Things just didn't feel right anymore._

Leaning close to the mirror Robin took a deep breath wiped the sweat from his brow, and adjusted his mask. Was it obvious he was experiencing slight withdrawal from the Xynothium since cutting his dose down by half the night before?

Without further delay he slipped one pill into his mouth and quickly washed it down with a handful of water from the faucet. He slowly rolled the second between his fingertips as if carefully contemplating its clear smooth exterior. Already, after the dose of the first, the shaking in his hands had subsided. _Imagine the improvements if he took the usual 2 capsule dose…_

"_I must have you first. I must make you better so that you are worthy of death at my hands."_ Suddenly Slade's past, whispered words rang out from a distant memory.

"You know what's really getting to me since I've been here?" Dick jumped at the sudden sound of Grant's voice behind him. He clenched the Xynothium tablet in his fist as if to quickly hide it.

Robin didn't turn around.

"I've been here nearly a week," Grant continued, taking a step into the small bath, "and the only time I've been able to get you alone and to myself is when you're taking Xynothium."

"Grant," Dick spoke slowly, still keeping his back to the doorway, "at this hour, you really should be back in your own room. What if the others saw us together? How did you get in here anyways?"

"Heh," Grant scoffed, "so you're ashamed of me, huh? Is that why you haven't told them about us yet? You'd rather keep it a secret and seek refuge in your cocktail of Xynothium and self-destructive habits than to seek refuge in your friends? In me? Is that old mask really that much more comforting, Dick?"

"I'm not ashamed of you," Dick closed his eyes and shook his head slightly when he said this, trying to squeeze the image of Grant bathed in blood that had suddenly entered his mind again, "I just gotta go. I'll be late for patrol." The palm of his clenched fist was starting to become clammy.

After a solemn pause, Grant step aside, a sad look on his face. "You know," he called after Dick, "There's only one other man who I've ever known to keep his mask on at all times and he—"

"He's dead," Robin's voice was startling icy and firm, "He's dead."

* * *

Sitting in the quiet Titan tower lab, Raven squinted at the grainy image in front of her. Resting her head on her hand she sighed as the analytical machines hummed and clicked softly around her.

"Hey, Raven. Whatcha up to?" Vic sat on the stool next to her, "Shouldn't you be out on night patrol?"

"I've still got a few minutes," Raven continued to stare at the picture, "So I thought I'd start running that blood sample that Robin swabbed at the antibiotics factory the other night. It'll take a few hours, but DNA record matching analysis should be done by the time we get back. With any luck we'll find out who encountered Rose first before Robin got there."

"So what you lookin' at now, then? Is that a PET scan of someone's brain?" Cyborg leaned in slightly to get a better look at the cross sectional photograph in front of Raven.

"Yeah," Raven said mildly, "Its Robin's and…there's nothing wrong with it. The scan only confirms that he had normal brain chemical activity when the scan was taken."

"Isn't that good? I mean, what exactly were you expecting?"

"I don't know," Raven said quietly, "Something just doesn't feel right. Guess it just feels kinda strange to have things finally quieting down around here."

"I'll say," Cyborg turned around and leaned back against the edge of the lab desk, "But I can tell you what doesn't feel right."

Raising an eyebrow Raven finally looked at Cyborg, breaking her gaze with the PET scan image.

"It's that assassin," Cyborg spat, though trying to keep his voice down at the same time, "I know Robin trusts him, but he's a wanted killer, the freakin' son of Slade and instead of turning him in to the authorities we've just let him into the Tower, no questions asked." Vic shook his head, "I don't know, Raven. I don't trust the Ravager and though normally I trust Robin's judgment…I hate to say it but it's obvious that he hasn't been himself lately."

Raven lowered her head and turned back to the Robin's brain image. She chose not to mention that she too was bothered by the fact that Grant had yet to allow her into his mind since his reappearance. As part of a deal to protect Robin, they had shared soul energy once and thus it was especially odd that he would keep his mind so strongly guarded from her now. It was as if he had something to hide.

* * *

_(Later that night…)_

"CYBORG…_crk,_" a fuzzy image of Robin popped up on the Titan main computer, "Cyborg…--an you hear me?"

"Yeah, we read you loud and clear," Vic swiveled around in chair, "What's going on? The overhead alert just triggered here and alarms just triggered in over a quarter of the city."

"Raven and I need you all down here now!" The video flickered as Robin glanced quickly over his shoulder, out of breath, "It's Mad Mod! He's got these mini mind control transponders and has taken control of a mob of people. They're rioting across the south side. It's growing…Jesus, there are so many people…it's like it's…almost like a virus. They're attacking anything and everyone. We have to stop them before they kill each other! I need you all now!"

"Fear not, dear Robin. We are on our way!" Starfire chirped as all but Cyborg leapt to their feet.

"Cyborg? Are you not coming?"

Vic's eyes narrowed, "Someone needs to stay at the Tower. You know, guard the home front."

"But—"

"He doesn't trust me," Grant, still clad in his pure white dress suit and trench coat stepped out of the corner of the room, "I understand, though. I know it must be hard for you."

"You don't know the half of it…" Vic growled.

"Cyborg! Titans! Are you coming?" Robin's voice crackled over the radio again, his voice shaking in shallow breaths as he struggled with someone on the other side.

"Robin," Grant spoke up, "I'm coming. Let's go." He turned to the other Titans.

"NO!" Robin shouted, "You stay at the Tower, Grant. I can't lose you. The less people that know you're alive, the better." More panting came over the radio, "Titans! Assemble! Robin out!"

After a short pause, Cyborg's scowl deepened. With firm, nearly vicious motions he typed furiously across the main computer keyboard. Finally he slammed the "enter key" and stood up, still scowling at Grant, "I've locked everything down," he said, "You won't be able to leave this room or do anything but listen to our communications now."

Grant bowed his head slightly, his smile melting, "Fair enough, but I'm only staying because Robin asked me to."

It was like a wasteland. The streets could be seen from miles above, a thin illuminated thread of eerie red, orange light. It was hard to believe that such destruction could rip apart this part of the city in only a matter of hours. Black smoke filled the sky and outlines of dark still bodies lay along flaming wreckage.

A collective gasp escaped the Titans as they swooped over the blocks and blocks of increasing destruction, zeroing in on Robin and Raven's location.

* * *

_(Meanwhile…)_

"_Azarath metrion zinthos," _rising up from the ground, Raven spread the wings of her raven form, enveloping another mass of active people. Instantly, as her wings swept across them, the mini mind control transponders on the backs of their necks sparked and short circuited. All the civilians dropped to the ground in a sleeping state.

"Raven," Dick whipped around and kicked apart several people caught in a brawl, quickly trying to pluck Mod's mind control bugs from their necks as he went. One by one the mind controlled citizens fell unconscious to the ground as the transponders were removed. "Raven, do you see him?"

Dick pointed to the top of a nearby sky scraper. "Mod's up there," he said, out of breath, "On the roof…he's just standing there with that cane of his...watching. He must have drained one of the bystanders for their youth already to just be standing there like that…I think I can get to him."

"Dick, shouldn't we wait for the others first?"

"There's no time. This is only getting worse, Raven. Mod's mind control program in these bugs is clearly a simple one but there are just too many people. Th—AH!" Robin shouted out in pain as something sunk into his leg.

Looking down, Dick's eyes widened. A small red-headed girl, still clutching a raggedy doll in her other fist, had sunk her teeth into his calf. Due to her small size, he must have missed her while disabling the rest of the crowd. The red light of the transponder on the back of her neck flickered violently as she growled and bared down.

His eyes hardening, Robin grabbed the girl firmly and jerked her head to the side. The little girl squealed in protest, tears streaming down her angry face. As soon as he removed the transponder she became limp and still.

"The longer we wait the more people that are going to be hurt," he crushed the mind control bug between his finger tips. He lay the child down gently between two adults unconscious on the ground, "Will you cover me?"

* * *

"MOD!" Robin shouted as he popped up over the ledge in front of the mad scientist and onto the roof. Maddy kept his head down. A blue bowler hat fixed with a red and white ribbon concealed his eyes in dark shadow.

Not far behind Dick, Raven flew around the perimeter, subduing Mod's small throng of mind controlled victims with her powers.

_Thwhack!_ _Whack! _Robin struck his Bo staff against Mad Mod's thick, ebony cane. Dick grit his teeth, flaring his nostrils. So it was true. Based on Mod's current strength, he had already drained several victims of their youth.

Pushing back, Robin ducked under Mod's two handed swing and swiftly swept his leg around in a round house. To Robin's astonishment, Maddy nimbly jumped out of the way. Now vulnerable, Dick quickly shifted to the right, narrowly dodging the electrical blue spark that shot out from the end of Maddy's cane. Managing to get back up, Dick swung his staff left, then right, meeting resistance against Mod's polished, hardwood cane again and again. _It didn't make any sense_. Even the youthful Mad Mod wasn't any good at hand to hand combat. _Was this really Mad Mod that he was fighting?_

Meanwhile, as the last mind control victim on the roof fell unconscious at Raven's feet, Raven's heart quickened. Eyes wide and glazed over, she gasped. _She was getting that feeling, again; _the same one that had washed over when she was at Rogue Laboratories last week.

"So strong…all this energy…here…all at once…" she whispered to herself, "But where are you coming from?" As if her body were in shock, she continued to stand motionless at the corner of the roof, her arms limp at her sides.

_Crack! Pah!_ Hunched over, Dick spat out a mouth full of blood, having been caught once in the gut and once across the face by the rock hard ruby at the top of Maddy's cane.

Scowling, Dick leapt in to the air, swinging his shining staff more furiously than before. "Why, Mod?" Robin cried, "Why destroy the very city you wish to control?" As Maddy began to back up, Dick felt his arms swinging harder, "Why harm all these people, Maddy? Why?"

_CRAAACK!_ There was a bright white flash and a mighty sound that echoed across the rooftop as Dick finally broke the ebony cane in half.

* * *

_(Meanwhile…)_

Not far down the street, a mob that had surrounded the other Titans, suddenly froze in mid motion and after a still pause, collapsed to the ground unconscious, their mind control bugs no longer glowing. "Uh…ok…" Beast Boy scratched the back of his head as he unwound his boa constrictor body from around Starfire's slim waist, "That was a close one."

He and the other Titans let a great sigh of relief though they were all a bit perplexed at the same time.

* * *

_(Back on the rooftop…)_

With two vicious strikes from his own staff, Robin brought Maddy to his knees.

"Why, Maddy?" Dick threw down his staff and grabbed the trembling mad scientist by the collar, "Why all these lives?! So many people…why make them suffer?! Answer me!"

Limp as a rag doll, Mad Mod's head tilted back. Slowly, the bowler cap that had been perched on the crown of his head, slid off and to the ground. Robin's mouth fell open.

Tears were streaming endlessly out from behind Maddy's rose colored glasses. He had been weeping the entire time he had been fighting. _This had been done all against his own will!_ As Dick pulled Mod in closer for further inspection, Mod's head limply rolled to the side. At the sight of the mind control bug sticking out from under Maddy's thick red hair, Robin's eyes grew even larger.

"Why," the smooth voice that came from behind him, ran chills down his spine, "It's all for you dear, Robin. I knew you would come."

_No…it CAN'T be!_

"Slade…" Dick whispered, petrified.

"No," the dark voice snickered, "But close. Hehehe. I am _daughter _of Slade!" Suddenly, before he could react, Rose grabbed Dick's face in between her hands, forcing him into a kiss. His entire body shuttered and yet for a strange moment, he wanted to kiss her back. _Did he really miss Slade that much to be gracious to meet his legacy? Or was it because she was wearing the Ravager's suit?_

Dick could already feel the paralyzing poison seeping quickly through his muscles even before she retracted her tongue from his mouth. He heard Maddy's body land with a thud at their feet as he lost the feeling in his fingertips. His breath became labored as his limbs grew heavy and his vision began to blur. Slowly, he too, despite his struggling, fell to the ground.

"Now," Rose knelt down and pulled Robin's head up by his hair until she could look him in the eye, "Let's see why father found you so very fascinating." Her eye gleamed an iridescent blue-green as she stared intently into Robin's eye.

Immediately, Dick began to scream in agony.

* * *

_(Back at the tower…)_

"Dick!" Grant jumped at the sound of Robin's scream. "I'm coming," Grant turned back to the circuit board before him, "Come on," he knew if he could just disrupt the hardware just right, he could get the doors to open for him, "Come on!" He had to get them open. He had to get to Robin.

Though, he really had to hand it to Cyborg. Never had he seen something so complexly wired and intricately programmed. Working fast, he detached one wire and twisted it with another. Suddenly, a red siren went off.

"Warning. Warning," a woman's voice sounded throughout the tower, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Cutting power to main room. Full lock down mode, engaging."

"Shit…"

Grant jumped back from the door as thick steel plates dropped in front of the doors and all the windows of the main room.

"No!" Grant cried, as the room was cast into complete darkness, "NO!" He began to bang his fists mercilessly against the steel plate in front of the door.

"Full lock down mode engaged," the voice said as Grant continued to beat his hands against the steel plate. Even though the main computer had been turned off and he could no longer listen to the Titan's radio communications, the last thing he heard was Robin screaming and that ugly sound was all he could hear now, "AHHHHH!"

Eventually, after some time, Grant sank to his knees, still hitting his fists, albeit now weakly, against the door. He could feel the warmth from his split knuckles trailing down his arms.

"You know, "a voice hissed in his ear.

"_No…not now…don't tempt me now," _Grant's mind pleaded.

"I could help you," the voice proceeded.

Grant's face grew painful sadder. He shut his eyes and rested his forehead against the cold, steel barrier and swallowed. "What more must I do for you then, master," he said trying his hardest not to sob. Even though he could not see him, Grant knew his master was smiling.

* * *

"_Addie….Addie…Hello Addie…."_

"_Addie…Addie…NO!"_

"_This is mine! This is mine! THIEF!"_

"_You belong to me now!" _

The words ran fast and fluidly throughout Dick's mind and out as incoherent whispers from behind his soft lips.

Dick wasn't sure what had happened next. One moment, he felt as if his brains were being shredded and twisted in knots and then in the next Rose was recoiling away from him, holding her hand over her eye, a thin stream of red trailing out from behind the slanted red lens. Shuttering, she turned to leave.

On the ground, Robin blinked several times, his vision slowly restoring.

"Rose," Robin's voice was weak, "Stop…" he stumbled back to the ground as he tried to get up and pursue the fleeing girl.

As Rose's blurry outline grew smaller, Dick propped himself up against the ledge of the roof and attempted to stand again, "Rose, come back…" he murmured, as he felt his body tip forward, over the edge of the building.

The wind whipped rapidly around him as he plummeted towards the ground. _This feeling must have been the very same that his parents had felt right before they—_

All of the sudden, the signature sound of a grappling hook deploying and engaging reached Dick's ears. A second later, he found himself sleepily looking up and blinking at the Ravager mask again, but this time it was—

"Grant," a subtle smile tugged weakly at the corner of Robin's lips.

**Additional author's notes:** Again, sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I do have an ultimate plan and purpose of this fic. However I just had a hard time formulating this chapter for some reason. I couldn't get it right and I'm still not quite happy with its flow or my word choices. But I figured I should just move on with the plot and I hope this one was at least a little enjoyable. Let me know what you think! Hopefully with a little hard work and encouragement I'll be able to get back into my writer's voice and groove. Till next time!


	6. Once upon a Dream

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's notes: **So this chapter came out much faster than I thought. I dedicate this chapter and it's early release to those readers who have left me reviews in the past, since they really encourage me to keep writing and to write more. Thank you so much!

…As for you silent readers, thank you for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you think at any time.

**Warning!** I know I had swore to myself never to write a lemon again (since the last and only one I wrote in Red Robin I felt was embarrassingly cheesy)…I have to admit I couldn't help myself and wrote another one. And it is in this chapter. If you don't like reading guyXguy action…stop reading at the point when Robin gets his shirt off and then pick up again at the next section as demarcated by the line.

Well enjoy the chapter! Don't forget to let me know what you think and review! Thanks in advance.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Once Upon a Dream**

"Grant," a subtle smile tugged weakly at the corner of Robin's lips before he passed out once more.

Some moments later he finally came to. Grant was still holding him close even though they were on the ground now.

"Back with me now for good, kid?" Grant smiled gently, relieved.

"Grant," Dick sat up and spoke firmly, "You shouldn't be here. I ordered you to stay behind."

"I'm sorry, kid," Grant quickly swallowed his smile, "but I'm not one of your Titans. Plus, I'm afraid I'm a horrible listener, anyw--"

"You," Robin stumbled to his feet when he caught sight of Vic nearby. Robin pushed back Grant's offering hand, "All of you! Where were you? Raven and I needed you!"

"I had to lock down the tower," Cyborg took a step towards Robin, "We were on our way."

"Like hell you were! If you had left when I told you to, we may have been able to detain Rose and some form justice could have been executed…some form of closure could have been obtained for all these victims. But instead, you chose to waste your time questioning my orders and locking Grant in the tower."

"We had to lock down the tower. You haven't really given us much of an option to do otherwise or a reason why we should trust _that assassin_." Vic shot Grant a dirty glance, "Besides, we got here in time to pursue Rose but Raven had told us to stay here with you while she went after her, herself."

"It doesn't matter!" Robin took an unsteady step towards Cyborg, "Vic, I'm suspending your duties until you learn to trust my judgment. I'm your leader and must do what I say, no questions asked. You all have to trust me!"

Robin's voice echoed in the still silence that followed.

"What?" Dick blinked and looked around at the others, "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

After another strained pause Starfire spoke, "But dear Robin, it is your judgment that cannot be trusted." She clutched the crook of her opposite arm and looked down at her shoes.

"What?"

"Dude," Beast Boy spoke slowly, "we know you're still takin' Xynothium."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I--"

"Dick, there's no use lying to us, anymore," Cyborg said quietly, "The assassin told us everything."

"You?" Dick glanced at Grant whose eyes were fixed on a large stone at his feet, "You told them? …Before I was even ready?"

"I'm sorry, Dick." Grant said barely audible, "I…"

"It was more that he filled in the gaps of what we were already suspecting," Cyborg went on though Dick continued to look at Grant instead, "While you were out, you were mumbling things…strange, but familiar things, Dick. Things we've only heard you say when you were under Addie's control.

"We had asked Ravager what had happened since he had gotten here before us. He said that it looked like Rose was trying to somehow enter your mind. But then, he said something happened. Some sort of power pushed her out of your head. That 'power,' Dick, and those things that you were muttering point to only one thing."

"Oh yeah?" Robin finally turned his head to look at Cyborg, "So you don't trust Grant one bit, but then you take what he said as fact?"

"It means Addie is still alive in you Dick," Vic continued, disregarding Robin's weak attempt to change the subject, "And the only way she's still alive in you is if you've haven't stopped taking Xynothium."

The slits in Dick's mask narrowed, "So what are you guys saying? You trust me just as much as _the assassin,_ now? Is that it?" Grant winced, Dick's words cutting into him, "Are you going to suspend me and lock me up in the Tower too? Is that what you're going to do?"

"Dick," Starfire finally spoke, "Please understand that we will give you as much time as you need to recover. You must trust us too to—"

"No, no, I get it," Robin threw up his hands and began to make his way to his motorcycle despite his unsteady gait. He pushed off Grant's outstretched hand as he teetered towards his bike, "It's not like I got anywhere else to go anyways."

* * *

In his room, Robin pushed off his mask and let out a long, painful groan. After carefully undoing the clasps of his costume, he gingerly took up the corners of his shirt and attempted to pull it off. Wincing, he stopped mid way and sat back on his bed, panting. He tried not to think about how much more freely his ribs could move now thanks to Maddy's cane. _If only he had taken a full dose of Xynothium instead of half._ He would have been completely healed by now if he had. He hated to think how much more of a wreck he would have been if he hadn't be taking any Xynothium. The others didn't understand. He had been doing it for them…so he could protect them.

Dick turned his head to look at his utility belt that he had thrown off earlier in frustration. He pulled the belt off the pillow, where it had landed. _Perhaps he could take the second half of his dose now._

Suddenly, he started. Grant had come up from behind him and gently placed his strong hands on top of Robin's before they could open the compartment with the pills. Dick held his breath, his eyes lingering on the bright blue sutures across the assassin's knuckles. _How hard and long had he been banging on that steel panel?_

Slowly, Grant brought his hands up and around to undo the clasp to Dick's microfiber cape.

Dick exhaled. "I don't need your help," he said trying to sound angry. He pushed Grant's hands away from his neck.

"Shhh," was the only sound the blonde man made as he continued to remove the glossy, black cape from around Dick's neck. Once loose, it fell soundlessly to the carpet, into a soft heap. Dick could feel his breathing rhythm gradually slow to match the remorseful man's whose arms were encircling him.

Despite the young man's weak resistance, Grant's hands persisted and began to pull up at the corners of Dick's robin red shirt.

"Ah!" just as the bottom of the shirt reached his arms, the young hero let out a small yelp. Immediately Grant stopped.

"On three," he whispered gently into Dick's ear.

Robin nodded, taking deep breaths.

"One…Two…Th—"

"AHH!"

In one swift motion they had finally removed the Robin shirt. Dick turned and clung to Grant, gripping his arm tightly until the pain subsided.

"Dick," Grant's eyes grew sadder as they traced over all the dark bruises and red swellings across the delicate body before him, "I…I'm sorry. Out there with the other Titans...I didn't meant to…" He trailed off.

The young man winced away from Grant's hand when he tried to stroke his cheek. It had been the same side that Mod's cane had caught him earlier.

"Please forgive me…" Softly, almost gingerly, Grant pushed his lips against the young man's. Pulling back with an air of sadness, the remorseful man submissively lowered his head, ashamed and waiting to be accepted again.

Slowly, Robin took a step back and then another. Stepping into the bathroom, he shut the door softly behind himself.

Robin let out another groan as the hot water of the shower ran down his body and over his wounds.

He hadn't been in the shower long when he heard the bathroom door quietly open and close. Dick didn't move a muscle and stared instead at the water that pitter pattered at his feet and swirled down the drain. However, as soon as Grant's arms were around him again, he felt his body immediately soften and mold to his partner's body. _It had been too long…_

Dick closed his eyes as a very timid tongue ran up his smooth spine, against the flow of the clear, hot water. Still with a remorseful air, the assassin then pressed a chaste kiss on the back of the young man's neck before proceeding to gently lick and kiss each of Robin's tender bruises. Dick's skin prickled at the feel of Grant's hot breath and gentle hands moving across his body and over his chest.

Still unable to look Dick straight in the eye, the guilt ridden man, slowly, nearly sadly, knelt onto his knees.

A small gasp escaped Dick when Grant took him delicately in his mouth. The hot water ran in slick ribbons down Dick's chest and abdomen as he tipped his head back, his fingertips gripping the smooth tiled wall behind him.

When a second, slightly louder gasp escaped his lungs, Dick clapped his hand over his mouth for fear that the other sounds welling up inside him would come out and that the others in the tower would surely hear them. He squeezed his eyes shut. Grant was so warm and so very soft. _It was like each of Grant's actions was pleading for forgiveness._

Still ashamed of himself, Grant dare not look up, not even to peek, at the young man's reaction. Instead, he continued to work deeply, back and forth, winding and unwinding his silk tongue around and over Dick's firm flesh. Gently, he eased one finger into the young man. Once the tense muscles relaxed to his touch, he drew it rhythmically in and out in synch with the dips of his head. Gradually, as the young man widened under his kneading motions, he worked in a second finger.

Now, Dick was covering his mouth with both hands and biting his lip. _God he was going to scream!_

"Not yet," Grant whispered, gently pinching the head of Dick's flesh. Standing up, he turned the young man around and pulled his thin waist in close. Gripping Dick's palms against the smooth tiled wall, he kissed him in between the shoulder blades, and then pushed himself firmly into the young man. Robin arched his spine and threw his head back.

The hot water streamed down Dick's face and neck as Grant thrust his muscular body in and out of him while his strong hands continued to gently caress and spiral smoothly around Dick's own firm desire. The hot water fell over them in soft sheets, running silkily over their joined bodies.

Finally, with the water still streaming down his face, Dick let out an ecstasy relieved sigh. Then, soon after, with one last aggressive thrust, Grant exhaled deeply as well.

Panting in the steamed filled shower, they both leaned in the corner, their bodies suddenly having become weak and exhausted. The water hit the floor around them in a steady rhythm.

"Don't think that this means you're forgiven, yet," Dick buried his face into Grant's warm chest. He could hear the assassin's heart still beating so very quickly.

"Very well," Grant nodded, crystal beads of water glistening in his golden hair, "I shall gladly take my punishment later, then."

* * *

"Hmm," Raven pursed her lips and looked around. She was in the industrial district now and though she had thought she had kept herself concealed Rose had somehow managed to give her the slip.

The strange spiritual energy that had washed over her at the antibiotics factory and again on the roof with Robin had definitely originated from Rose herself. However, now, even when Raven closed her eyes and concentrated, she could feel none of it.

"Hmm," she hummed again. Perhaps she was going about this all wrong. "What would Robin do in this situation?" He would go back the basics. He would analyze the facts.

Rose was injured. Ever since her encounter with a mystery assailant at Rogue Laboratories, her condition had been deteriorating and she had been fighting at a suboptimal level. This explained why she had resorted to using poisons and distraction tactics rather than facing Robin, whom she seemed to be after, head on.

Why was she after Robin, anyways? _Actually_ she hadn't always been after Robin. Raven brought her hand to her chin, pensively. _No…at the labs she wasn't after Robin she was after—_

"Antibiotics," Raven said aloud, snapping her fingers.

But _why_ antibiotics? The particular antibiotic Rose had stolen was an experimental antibiotic being developed at Rogue Labs. It hadn't been approved for human use, yet.

So why steal it? The antibiotic's shelf life was only 1 month at 2 degrees Celsius and 2 or 3 days at room temperature. Not enough time for it to be properly smuggled or sold on the black market. She hadn't taken enough worth selling, either. The labs had only reported 1 box of antibiotics missing.

Was she hired for corporate espionage? Was another lab after the secret formula for the experimental antibiotic? _No. No!_ That didn't make any sense. If someone was after the secret of an antibiotic, he wouldn't steal the antibiotic itself. Antibiotics aren't synthetically produced by humans but are synthesized by microorganisms. If someone wanted the secret of the antibiotic, he'd steal the microorganism that produces it.

So why steal antibiotics? Why was Rose willing to kill for one box of experimental antibiotics? Unless…it was for…someone…someone very sick…

Raven dropped her hand away from her chin.

"_Brother!"_ The image of a small, round-headed boy running towards her across a grassy field flickered across her mind. His fluffy locks of golden hair glistened in the sun as he bounded closer and closer.

"Of course," Raven smacked her forehead. How could she have forgotten? Rose didn't need the antibiotics. She was only getting them for—

Raven only had a split second to react and jump back to avoid the ninja darts that pierced the ground in a single row right where she had just been standing.

"You!" Rose cried as she jumped down from above, her katana raised above her head, "You dare follow me!?"

_Swish!_ Raven flew back a several yards, narrowly escaping the silver blade, "Rose, I know why you need those antibiotics." She took a step forward, "Come with me. We can help you _and_ your brother."

"Ha," Rose raised her blade again, "Which one?"

Raven cocked her head slightly confused. Hadn't she seen Grant with them while they were on the roof an hour ago?

"You can't save us," Rose growled, "No one can!" The platinum blonde came at Raven, again, running with her sword out.

Raven narrowed her dark eyes and lowered her head. Just as Rose reached her position, she shifted smoothly to left, avoiding the katana once more. Then with an incredible thrust, dove at the young killer with both hands out. With practically a magnetic grip, she grabbed Rose's face in between her hands. The sheer force of the tackle sent the two girls tumbling down a set of wooden steps and through a glass window on the ground floor of a nearby warehouse, whose opposite side overlooked the sea.

With Rose stunned and her visage still in Raven's hands, Raven squeezed her eyes shut, _"Azarath metrion zinthos!"_

When she snapped them back open she found herself standing in a old Victorian style room with dark corners and long, creeping shadows.

"_La da da di da da… I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…"_ A scratchy record was playing quietly, its tune echoing eerily throughout the room, "_I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam…"_

Stepping closer towards the fireplace, the only light source in the dusty room, Raven spied a historical gramophone with a large embellished bell just opposite a large, high backed arm chair. The gramophone's needle bobbed up and down as it ran over scratchy record playing the familiar, childhood tune.

As if in a trance, Raven felt her arm move to reach out towards the gramophone needle. Just as her fingers were about to touch the spinning machine, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end. Raven whipped around eyes wide.

"_Yes, I know it's true, that visions are seldom all they seem…"_ the song played on behind her.

Two burning, vibrant blue-green eyes stared back at her. They belonged to a fair haired, fair skinned young man, not much older than she. The orange flames in the fireplace flickered sleepily across his delicate, naked body. If not for her initial shock at the time, Raven would have thought the young man was actually quite beautiful.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was gentle and it was hard to think that it sounded angry. Yet, Raven could still detect hostility in it. "How can you see me?"

"You're not, Rose," Raven said surprised.

"No," the boy's eyes burned more hotly, "I'm not. Now leave us the hell alone and get out of _my_ head!"

Raven gasped and closed her eyes as a sudden force, stronger than she was expecting, knocked her back.

_Crash!_ When she opened her eyes again she found that the force had sent her falling through another window on the opposite side of the warehouse where she had first tackled Rose. Raven spun in the air, her cape whipping violently around her in the wind as she fell towards the crashing waves below.

Getting a hold of herself rather quickly, Raven levitated herself back up to the warehouse. However, by the time she got there, Rose was nowhere to be seen.

No matter, thanks to the handsome young man Raven had met in Rose's head, Raven knew exactly where to find Rose now. As she took flight, Raven began to hum the tune she had heard on the gramophone. She wasn't much of one for songs and singing, but unfortunately the tune had gotten stuck in her head.

"_But if I know you, I know what you'll do…You'll love me at once…the way you did once upon a dream…"_

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes: ** So usually I don't like to write in songs into fan fics but I figured this tune was a classic (it's from Disney's "Sleeping Beauty)" and it sorta fit the chapter (I also got it stuck in my head...I had a link to the scene on youtube on here but FanFiction never let's me paste in links in documents for some reason....).

Well, thanks to your reviews and that song I got this chapter out much faster than expected. I hope you enjoyed it despite the cheesy lemon I put in there heh. Let me know what you think! REVIEW, please!


	7. Doppelganger

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's notes: **Hello everyone! Sorry this took a while…but it's one of the climax chapters! (Wow, that came a lot faster than expected) So please enjoy this extra long chapter! Thank you for your patience! Don't forget to leave me a review! :)

* * *

**Chapter 7: Doppelganger**

Screaming…Dick heard screaming. It filled his ears, twisting and writhing, painfully retching into his very core. _Was it even human?_ It was excruciating!

Though he instinctively covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, a part of him longed to listen to it more. Dick couldn't explain it. It was as if a part of him lived for that painful sound…as if he yearned to hear it indefinitely.

"Make it stop," he whispered. No! He shouldn't want to hear such a thing. "Make it stop!"

"But, Robin," a soft, familiar voice cut through the torturous wail, "you cannot deny it."

Dick flinched. Something thick and warm dribbled down his shoulder. Slowly, hands still over his ears, he opened his eyes and looked up, "Mother?"

She was dressed and painted as she was the night she had died. Though her body was caught in a mass of thin scarlet coated piano wires, she smiled. "Robin," the crimson dripped steadily over her son as she spoke, "this is your song—" Just as she finished her sentence, the wires were drawn taut. Dick looked away, the hot crimson showering over him.

Dick's shoulders shook, the sobs welling up in his throat.

"You must give in to her, honey," when Dick opened his eyes again, her decapitated head still smiled and spoke to him, "for this is the sound of death and you are already dead."

"Give into her?"

"Yes…Dick Grayson," a raspy voice slowly overtook his mother's.

The confused boy held his breath. Steadily his eyes grew wider with the sight of a far more disfigured head staring back at him with glowing yellow eyes. "Addie…" he murmured recognizing the severed head of the black, rotted corpse.

"….you must give into ME!"

At that moment, Dick let out the yell that had been burning to be let out of his throat. Oddly, it sounded so very similar to the unforgettable sound that he had been longing to hear.

"Ahh!" Robin shot bolt upright in bed, drenched in a fine, sweat. Before his eyes could adjust to the darkness around him, a strong hand eased him back down.

"Easy, kid. Easy now," Grant brushed the hair out of Dick's eyes as he collapsed back onto the mattress, "Everything is alright. You're just going into Xynothium withdrawal. So you're experiencing more vivid nightmares. I think you're a little feverish too."

"Withdrawal already?" Dick rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to push the vision of Addie's glowing eyes out of his head.

"Yes," Grant sat down on the bed next to Dick and leaned against the backboard of the bed, "It's been nearly 12 hours since your last dose."

"What time is it? And why is it so quiet? Are the other's around? I have to talk to Raven." He had to tell Raven about his new dream.

"It's about 1:30 in the afternoon. The others were called out to tangle with Professor Chang at Fisherman's Harbor, so they might not be back for a while."

"As for Raven, "the blonde began to stroke Robin's hair, "she hasn't come back since she went after Rose, last night. I was looking for her, myself, because I need to…talk to her as well. But she did call in this morning, saying she was chasing down a lead. Heh, you know, she's starting to sound a lot like y--…my God…" Grant looked down at the fever flushed young man lying next to him, "you're shaking."

"I'm sorry. I can't help it," for the life of him, he couldn't stop thinking about Addie's rotting head, her hissed words, and his mother's dismembered body parts strewn around him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and snuggled up closer to Grant's leg. For a split second, Dick was reminded of his first night at Wayne Manor. Despite his rude comments and boyish attempts to appear strong, Alfred had stayed with him all night until his tears had run dry and he had fallen asleep.

"Hmm" Grant stopped slipped his palm under Robin's obsidian hair and across his forehead. "You're burning up. Perhaps we should get you to the infirmary." Gently, he took the young man by the shoulders and propped him up.

Dick's kiss was abrupt and forceful.

Finally able to pull away Grant gasped, "Dick, what are you doing? This is not the time. We need--"

Jerking Grant firmly against the head board, Dick clapped his mouth over Grant's struggling lips, again. Perhaps if he loved him more…if he loved him harder, he could bleach the horrid, blood stained images from his brain. _If only he could stop thinking._ But the harder he tried, the more vivid the thoughts became. Now images of his old reoccurring dream were running across his mind; the one where Grant was drowning and pleading in his own blood. _God! He couldn't make them stop coming!_

And so, Dick loved him harder. The buttons from Grant's shirt clattered on the floor as Dick tore it from his body.

Not one to be bullied, the assassin finally managed to push the young bird back and pin him against the bed. Grant's breath was hot on Dick's neck as he breathed heavily over the young man, his intense blue eyes aflame. When Dick attempted to lunge up at him again, he squeezed Dick's wrists, holding them fast against the mattress. Unable to break free, the young man fell flat against the bed again.

They stared at each other for a moment, nostrils flaring and gasping for air. Not a word passed between them.

Before either of them had time to catch their breath, Grant squeezed Dick's wrists, again, and dipped his head down, forcing his tongue into the young man's mouth. _If this is what he wanted…_

His golden hair fell gently over his eyes as he was met with Dick's consensual resistance.

Hungrily, the assassin's fingers worked their way down Robin's smooth shoulders, pulling the bathrobe from his delicate body. Just as the robe slipped from around Dick's arms and wrists behind him, Grant grabbed his wrists again, roughly forcing them together. Before Dick knew it, Grant had bound them tightly and had fixed him to the bed with the soft belt from the robe that had been cast aside.

Just as Dick's tongue began to hurt, Grant pulled up, his muscular chest and shoulders heaving with each breath. In another tense pause, Grant's harsh blue eyes hungrily lingered over the young man's pale, scarred body. However, looking at Robin was not enough to quell the appetite Dick had awakened in him. He wolfishly licked his lips before ravenously advancing on the young hero, again.

For a moment, Dick was taken aback. Such actions were so different, so rough compared to before. Was this even the same man as the gentleman that he had spent the night with?

_Yes…_

The tears collected in Dick's eyes and sweat ran down his face.

_Make me forget…Remind me what is real._

"Grant…" Robin gasped the name once. Soon, with each forceful motion, Grant was going to make him scream it.

* * *

"_I know you…I walked with you once upon a dream…"_ The haunting music seeped out of an open window above.

Raven looked up at the dark, ivy covered mansion. It had taken her quite some time to get to the Wilson Manor, since the only time she had been here was when she was bonded to Grant's soul. Staying in the shadow of the overgrown ivy, the telepath soundlessly elevated up to the side of the open window. Peeking around the window frame, Raven could barely make out the silhouette of a slender body nestled under a heap of blankets. "Joey," Raven whispered recognizing the pale yellow locks that shown mildly in the pale moonlight.

Carefully, Raven floated into the room minding her cape and the window sill. Just within the room she gasped and jumped back slightly. In the corner, in a high backed arm chair, sat Wintergreen's tall frame. He was facing the television at the foot of the bed, his shoulders slumped forward and his hands loose at his sides.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Raven set herself down on the other side of the bed and looked down at the delicate blonde boy breathing faintly under the blankets.

After a moment, she turned to the television set which had been the source of the music. As if mesmerized by the colorful cartoon, the demon girl watched the characters spin and waltz across the screen in step with the song. It was oddly comforting and she could see why Joey enjoyed it so much. "I see…so it's Sleeping Beauty," she mused to herself as she turned back to look at the bed ridden boy.

At that moment there was a pause in the music as the movie changed scene. _Chk. _Within that silence Raven heard the slightest of noises. Her eyes widened as she whipped around, her hands sheathed in psychic shadow. Swiftly she caught the silver blade coming down from above flat, in between her palms.

"_I'm awfully sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you_," The movie played on in the background.

"Come to awaken him with true love's kiss?" Rose hissed through her teeth.

"Joey," Raven spoke clearly, "I know it's you in there, possessing your sister. And I know you wouldn't do that unless you were in dire need of help. Rose is injured and losing strength too. The longer you're you possess her, the weaker she'll become. Come with me. I can help you."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Rose added more pressure on the blade, "You shouldn't have come!"

_Chink!_ The telekinetic increased her pressure likewise and snapped the katana tip of in between her hands. Swiftly, in one fluid motion she turned the blade towards Rose.

Just as quickly, Rose shifted her weight back and kicked high, knocking the fragment from Raven's hold. The silver glinted off the blade tip as it revolved in the air.

Before it even sank into the wooden beam above, the two girls had engaged each other again. Raven stepped back methodically, as Rose came at her with the other half of the Ravager's katana. Vibrations resonated down Raven's arms each time the sword met her psychic shields

Right! Left! Up! Over! The platinum blonde was just too fast for Raven to telekinetically grab a hold of anything. Like a strange waltz, the two circled the small room in careful combat. Raven's cape fluttered soundlessly with each of her movements. Finally, after some time, Raven found an opening.

With as much ferocity at the warehouse, Raven grabbed Rose by the throat with both hands, banging the pale haired girl against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut, chanting.

"I'm sorry, Raven," he spoke just as Raven began to make out the soft outline of Joseph's body, "but that's not going to work this time!"

"AH!" Suddenly Raven recoiled back. The psychic force had sent her across the room, slamming her into the opposite wall. There was a musical staccato of glass breaking as several framed pictures fell around her. In the mild moonlight, Raven could barely make out the images of the photographs tumbling down beside her, but for some reason her eyes still followed them briefly. _Shattered memories…_

Raven touched her burning temple, her dark hood having fallen from the crown of her head,. She barely had time to get up and reorient herself before Rose was on top of her again.

"Guh!" while blocking an overhead slice, Raven managed to her opponent back several stumbled steps towards the bed. Just as her heels met the foot of the bed, Rose dropped her sword and shot out her arms, balancing herself. She took extra care not to disturb even a sheet that lay across her brother's body.

"That's it," Raven thought, "That's how I can get through!"

Hunched over and still holding her throbbing head, Raven slowly raised her other hand, her palm open. Enveloped in shadow, all the glass shards at her feet snapped into line with a quick shiver. For the first time Raven heard the assassin gasp. She dived for her sword.

With her eyes aglow, and without further hesitation, the demon girl flicked her wrist. The fragments whistled through the air as they flew across the room, their sharp edges glistening like stars in the dark room.

As if in slow motion, Rose swung her half katana wide in circular motions slicing and blocking as many shards as she could. She winced as a smaller piece of glass grazed her cheek and body in several places. Despite the onslaught she stood her ground. She couldn't allow any glass to get through to Joey.

Meanwhile, Raven ran swiftly around, arms outstretched for the young man's golden head. Her fingertips could just feel the warmth of the Joseph's feverish forehead and the softness of his curly hair when, suddenly a violent jerk against her cape pulled her back.

"Bitch," Rose hissed, thin lines of blood trickling down her face, "Don't you touch him!"

Instinctively grabbing for her own neck, Raven tore her enameled broach from her cape, undoing it. Keeping hold of the corners of her dark blue cape, Raven whipped around once, twisting it from Rose's grasp. With a soft flutter, Raven spread the cape out over everyone, covering all in pitch black darkness.

_Azarath metrion zinthos…_

When Joey looked up, he was in a bright white room with no edges. "Where am I?" He looked around frantically at the place and his own naked body, turning his hands over again and again as if in disbelief, "What have you done with my sister?"

"She's alright," Raven's voice came from behind him, "and long as we're here in the nether plane, she will be in suspended animation."

"You can do that?" He lowered his hands and turned to face the young telekinetic who was now clad in a pure white costume, "So you're the one they call Raven."

Raven lowered her hood and nodded once, "You're Joey, right?"

"Heh," the delicate young man chuckled mildly. He had a nice smile. He took a few steps closer towards Raven, "Only my sister and my brother call me that. You, however, may call me 'Jericho,'" he bowed low, "Or you may call me 'Joseph' if you wish to be more traditional."

Raven wasn't sure why but her cheeks suddenly felt warm.

"And this is the place they say is the 'in-between place'…the place that exists neither here, nor there, nor anywhere," Joseph raised his eyes and looked around again, "the nether plane. I've never actually been here before. I've only been in the spaces of other's existences."

"You can only posses people?"

"Yes. I am not a true telepath. I can only possess others. This power is all a result of the many things my father had done to me to try to cure me of my current wasting state. As long as I can make eye contact and if I will it hard enough, I can take over people. I can even access memories. Surely," he turned to face Raven again, "for one who has shared a soul space with my brother, you can understand how this can be possible."

Raven nodded again, "However, you understand that such a process is quite taxing on your host as well as yourself. Since you've been continually possessing Rose, her body hasn't quite been able to take advantage of her Xynothium blood healing factor. She's deteriorating and so are you. You're going to die if you keep doing this without help."

"What do you suggest then? What makes you think you or anyone can help us? Until last year when I found I had this ability, I was locked in my body, for nearly half my life. After all these years, you're the only person I've ever met who can _actually_ _see me_," though Jericho's blue eyes had grown sad, his voice remained calm, "I know this all sounds so very selfish of me, but I've grown desperate since I encountered father last week."

Raven's eyes widened, "Last week? You couldn't have. I watched that man die."

"Dear Raven, in your heart you've always known that he wasn't truly gone."

* * *

_(At the Tower…)_

_Reeehhhh! _Suddenly the Titan alarm sounded.

"Jesus," Grant jumped out of bed, gripping the blankets close to his bare body, "I'll never get used to that." He turned, only to see a glimpse of Robin's heel leaving the door. By the time he had pulled on a robe, the young hero was already down the hall in the Titan command center.

"It's Dr. Light, again," Robin sighed as Ravager strolled into the room, "He's at the hydro plant trying to take over the generators."

"So what," the assassin shrugged, "Let the other's handle it. You're in no condition to leave. You're in Xynothium withdrawal, remember?" He smirked.

"Well, the others haven't come back yet," Dick pushed the seat back and stood up, "and it's just Doc Light. I can handle him."

Grant just shook his head and laughed, "It's when you say things like that, with that determined look in your eyes, that I just know there's no stopping you. But supposedly dead or not, I'm coming with you, kid."

"I don't need a baby sitter, Grant. I can handle Doc Light!" Robin ran back down to his room to suit up before Ravager could reply.

Fully suited up and ready to go, Dick flicked on the lights to the garage. When the lights came up, he nearly dropped his bow staff. There, completely suited up in his old suit, leaning casually against Robin's R-cycle, was Grant.

"Grant, I thought I made it clear you need to stay at the Tower," Robin tried to push passed the Ravager.

"And I thought I told you that you I'm not one of your Titans," Grant didn't budge, "You can't order me around, kid."

"OK," Robin sighed, "Fine. And I'm driving."

"Alright! Woot! R n' R to the rescue!" Grant shifted to the back seat of the R-cylce.

Dick rolled his eyes, "But you're only there to back me up, OK? And don't kill anyone! Just stick to the shadows like a good, assassin ninja."

"You know what's funny? It's that you say "good, assassin ninja" with such a straight face and as if it's not a paradox…"

The rest of Grant's words were drowned out by the growl of the motorcycle as they sped off.

* * *

_(Back on the nether plane…)_

"Dear Raven, in your heart you've always known that he wasn't truly gone," he looked down for a moment then up again, "I should have known better too. He is immortal and, as you know, very hard to kill. Wintergreen told me that my father even regenerated 20 years younger, once.

"Last week, Father caught me off guard while I was using Rose to obtain more antibiotics for my condition. I tried to fight him. I even tried to possess him. He wasn't expecting that, so when he realized what I was doing, he stopped out one of Rose's eyes. However, even with eye contact maintained by her other, I couldn't fully take him. There was something about his mind…something stronger blocking me. I retreated back into Rose's mind, but for some reason, I could not regain complete control of her again. It was almost like I had been poisoned or intoxicated."

Jericho touched his forehead, "I only can vaguely remember _watching_ my sister try to fight him too. She was able to deal him a considerable amount of damage but he was too much for her."

_So that's where all the blood on the roof came from. _Raven thought to herself.

"Then, he somehow poisoned her too. He poisoned her with his will. He said some words that I didn't understand. The words made her remove the rest of her damaged eye and pledge to be 'daughter of Slade' forever. After that, all I remember is father taking me, or rather Rose, by the neck and throwing her down into the warehouse through the skylight. And…I'm afraid I do not remember much of what happened after that."

"You attacked Robin and blew up the warehouse," Raven said flatly.

"I nearly killed him, didn't I?" For the first time Joseph's voice waivered.

"Twice actually. But that compares little to all the people you hurt during your attack on half the city. Were you in control then?"

Joseph lowered his head, his golden locks falling into his eyes, "Only half so. I did not mean to hurt all those people nor your friend Robin. But father's dark influence mixed with mine in Rose and what resulted was a wicked, twist of both of our goals. When I fought Robin at Rogue Labs I felt Mother's presence exuding from his very being. Thus, with Mr. Mod and his mind control, my intent was to create a diversion as a means to extract her spirit from Robin. I thought that perhaps I could free him of mother and finally lay her to rest, as well."

"Good intentions of a drunk…" Raven said half to herself.

"Excuse me?" Joseph looked up the dark haired girl again.

"You have good intentions and your soul is pure, Jericho. However, your ends do not justify your means. It does not change the fact that your and Rose's condition is deteriorating. I dare say it is your desperation within you that Slade exploited to influence you and your sister's spirit energy to do those horrid things. I don't know how, but it sounds like your father used dark magic to place a temporary low level curse on you and your sister. Such a curse can only be lifted once the person gains strength and confidence, but a strong minded individual is immune to it. You were strong enough to still try and carry out your goals of freeing Robin of Addie. However, you weren't strong enough to fight Slade's curse and stay in control of your methods."

"I understand," Joseph nodded, his eyes becoming fixed and stoic again, "So perhaps I really do need your help."

Joseph took another step towards Raven, "Maybe you could even teach me how to control my powers a bit." He reached out and touched Raven's shoulder and his deep blue eyes meeting her's, "You _will_ help me, won't you?"

Raven's heart skipped a beat as an abrupt cold shiver ran through her bones, "Jericho…what are you doing?! Stop!" No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break his gaze.

* * *

"Yes," Dr. Light laughed to himself as sparks jumped down the cords that plugged into his suit and across his finger tips, "more power! Yes I need more!"

"Well, well, well," Robin's voice echoed throughout the hydroelectric plant, "Looks like the doctor is in. Guess I won't need to schedule appointment. You do take walk-ins don't you, Doc?"

"Huh?"

_Pah!_ Just as Dr. Light turned around, his chin met Robin's steel toed shoe.

"Why you little--," the mad scientist cursed as he swung at Robin, trying but failing to land a single blow on the young hero, "So it's only you today, is it? Think you can stop me by yourself?"

"Oh it shouldn't be too hard," Dick shrugged and smiled, "Besides, robins sometimes travel in flocks, "With a quick flick of his wrist, Robin sent several birdarangs through Dr. Light's electrical cables, severing them.

"NO!" Dr. Light scowled and lowered his head.

"It's lights out, Doc. Now turn yourself in before anyone else gets hurt."

The doctor's shoulders began to shake with maniacal laughter," But of course." He straightened up, "But you look tired. Why don't you rest your wings on my cables!"

Large thick electrical wiring sprang out of the sides of the generators on both sides of Robin. He deployed his grappling hook but the copper cables extended and whipped around his body, plucking him from mid air.

"Ah!" The cables grew taut, pulling Dick's struggling body spread eagle. He screamed uncontrollably as Dr. Light, without another remark, sent electricity coursing through every fiber of the cables.

"Had enough?" The mad scientist stopped the electricity flow only momentarily.

Dick panted, his heart was pounding so incredibly fast, "Go f---"

"Yeah, I'd say that's enough," the Ravager reverberated throughout the facility as a flurry of ninja stars sliced through Robin's bindings.

Dr. Light whipped his head up just in time to see the Ravager descending down on him, sword in his hand. "What is this?" Dr. Light leapt back.

"Birds of a feather flock together," Grant smirked as he landed, "are you alright, Robin?" He called over his shoulder

"I'm fine," Dick said still slightly out of breath as he got up off the floor, "Now let's show this doctor the light."

With that the two masked men ran at the mad scientist. Almost in synchrony, they leapt and dodged all the metal tentacles the doctor had sent splaying out at them.

_Whack! Pow!_ Their blows landed consecutively, one after another as they circled the mad scientist. Through his knuckles Dick could feel the micro-vibrations of Grant's blows across Dr. Light's hard shell suit just as he began to withdraw his fist.

Many times they leapt together, spinning in the air, and kicking in unison. Robin couldn't help but feel like they were somehow channeling each another, for they moved smoothly almost like complete mirror images of one another. They moved as if they were one. At one point Dick noticed Grant was smiling while he was fighting and that's when Dick realized he was smiling too.

_This was meant to be…_

_

* * *

_"Jericho…what are you doing?! Stop!" No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break his gaze. Raven gasped as a penetrating coldness overtook her body, paralyzing her in place.

"Fear not, sweet Raven," she could feel the warmth of Joseph's breath fill her lungs, "No harm will come to you. I am just using your spirit energy as a conduit back to your body."

"Back to _my body_?"

"Yes. You may have sensed my spirit energy waning during our conversation. As you stated, my body is weak and I will not be able to sustain myself here nor anywhere if it were to perish. Thus, I need your body to properly administer my daily interval of medication and antibiotics."

It was like watching herself from afar. Raven could hear her body suddenly gasp when they had entered it. She could hear the broken glass crackle under her feet as they stepped around Rose, who stood frozen in place. Raven could feel everything as Joseph opened the nightstand and methodically loaded various syringes with the proper amounts.

"You know you could have just asked?" Raven said watching her reflection in the mirror above the nightstand as Jericho continued his routine. Though the room was dark, she noticed that her eyes were a shimmering blue-green now.

"I know, but I need to show you something after we're finished," he injected one syringe into the IV port dangling above the bed, "And I must admit, I am enjoying your company."

Raven felt her cheeks flush again. _Did Joseph notice?_

"Now," he said, after emptying the last syringe, "I have one last favor of you before we leave your body. This time, however, I will need to use your telekinetic powers, if that is alright with you."

"What do you need them for?"

Jericho paused for a moment, "I need you to help me bury Wintergreen."

"Wintergreen," Raven said, recalling the tall slumped over figure seated in the corner of the room. _He wasn't really sleeping, was he?_

"Indeed, you remember passing him on your way in, yes? I am afraid he was our first unfortunate victim after father had poisoned us…he wasn't expecting it…he was…" Joseph's voice became distant, "May he and God forgive me…"

They buried him together under the blossoming cherry tree on the bank of a small stream that ran through the estate's wood.

* * *

"Now," Joseph finally spoke up again, after they had returned to his room in silence, "Dear, Raven, please follow me." Without hesitation, his spirit form grabbed Raven's spirit hand. Raven's heart skipped a beat. She watched as they took Rose's face in Raven's body's hands. Gently elevating her chin up, they stared deeply into Rose's pale blue eyes.

Slowly, Raven could feel her breathing match Joseph's as that eerie cold feeling entered her once again. Distantly she could hear someone else's heart beating. The sound became louder and louder with each deep, chilling breath they took. Then finally, with one last full exhale, there was a flash!

When Raven opened her eyes she was once again standing in the dusty, Victorian room where she had first met Joseph. This time however, the fireplace was out and the big-belled gramophone was no longer playing music. It had reached the end of the record and was now only emitting static as it scratched along the outside of the record. She turned to face Jericho, who was still holding her hand. Without another word he led her out of the dark room and down an even darker hallway. Raven stumbled few times, her feet catching on the frayed rug that ran down the center of the corridor.

"There are so many rooms," she said as they passed by several open doorways, "Rose's mind is so compartmentalized."

"Yes," Joseph said as they continued down the dimly lit hallway, "That's what happens when your father subjects you to tests and makes you do unspeakable things. It's the only way the mind can stay sane. I would not be surprised if your friend, Robin's mind is like this as well."

At the end of the hallway, they descended a tight winding spiral staircase.

"Where are we going, Joseph?" Raven asked as things grew darker.

For a moment he didn't answer.

"Joseph?"

"You were right, Raven," Joseph finally said, "to assume that my frequent possession of Rose has weakened her. However, what drives my sister truly mad is the fact that she is also sharing her soul space with another." They stopped in front of an old wooden door at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

"Another?"

"Yes. So you can imagine how crowded Rose's mind is at one time with me in here periodically along with her soul and this other one as well." He turned the golden doorknob and gently pushed the door open.

Raven's eyes widened as the door creaked open. Inside there was another naked man. He was blindfolded. A web of twisted, dark ribbons bound him tightly to the corner of the room.

"I'm afraid I had to confine him to this room for the sake of my sister's sanity. While, free, he and my sister were constantly and violently struggling for control. As with any soul that does not make it to Heaven or hell, he was quite disoriented and confused. Thus, though I did not want to do this, I had no other choice but to keep him this way for his and everyone's safety."

Raven squinted. She let go of Joseph's hand as she drew closer to the confined man. Suddenly, he moved, struggling futilely against his bindings. Raven jumped back.

After a moment, the man's body fatigued and he relaxed. When his head limply rolled into view, Raven gasped. The shining wisps of golden hair, the strong jaw line were unmistakable. "Grant?!" She jumped to his side and touched his cheek. He flinched.

"Joseph," Raven glanced back at Jericho standing behind her, "this is your brother! Grant, can you hear me?"

"Sweet, Raven, I'm afraid he won't respond. I tried talking to him many a time. His spirit is lost, Raven. It doesn't know what to do. I thought that perhaps if I brought you here, you could help me free him."

After failing to get a response from Grant, Raven sat back on her heels, "How did he get here?"

"You may recall a time when my father had tortured him while holding your friend, Robin, captive. During that time, he had my sister drink Grant's Xynothium laden blood. As a result, in much the same way that your friend came to gain my mother's spirit from taking Xynothium derived from her blood, my sister gained a part of my brother's. So after his sacrifice last year, his soul did not pass into the afterlife but followed back to the fragment left in my sister."

"But," Raven slowly stood up and turned to face the delicate young man, "that doesn't make any sense. Grant has been with us, body and soul, at Titan Tower for nearly 2 weeks now." She turned back to look at the grievous man in the corner.

"Dear Raven," Joseph's voice softened slightly, "that man with your friend is not my brother. He is only a man who looks like my brother…or rather…he is a man who my brother looks like."

"_a lot of people say I'm the splittin' image of Pops and get us mixed up all the time…"_ _"…even regenerated 20 years younger, once…"_ Past words echoed in Raven's mind.

"No," Raven felt tears suddenly well up in her eyes, "No! It can't be…"

"But what do you feel, Raven? What does your heart tell you?"

"If Grant is truly here…then the man with Robin is—"

* * *

"Slade."

"Hmm?"

Back at Titan Tower, Dick gestured at a paper print out, "Oh, It's just the results of the DNA sample from Rogue Labs I had Raven run for me. According to it, the blood from the roof is an exact match to Slade's," His voice became distant as a worried look slowly overtook his face. Lost in thought, he didn't even look up at the blonde man who was now peering at the printout over his shoulder, "He's alive…"

"Oh really?" A thin, unseen smirk flashed across the assassin's lips

* * *

**Additional author's notes:** I know I know…It's cliffhanger. But we haven't had good one in a while! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it answered some questions. I also hope that the clincher at the wasn't too subtle, either ;) . Let me know what you think! Send me your thoughts with your reviews! Stay tuned!


	8. Message

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's notes: **Out of all the chapters in this fic, this is the chapter I've wanted to write. So, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And so the continuation of this fic's climax…

* * *

**Chapter 8: Message**

"…Slade…he's..." Raven's tears streamed down her face. _That's why he kept his mind so guarded against her. _Eyes still wide Raven bolted from the room, "I have to tell Robin!"

"Raven, wait!" The echoes of Joseph's voice grew softer as she made it up the stairs and further down the dark hall.

A loud, startled gasp escaped her lungs as she reentered her body. Taking in several cool breaths of air, she blinked. Golden-orange sunlight filtered in through the open shutters along with a soft breeze that filled the room.

_What? It was the next afternoon already?!_ Raven glanced at the clock that ticked quietly on Joseph's nightstand to confirm. _Of course._ Time in the nether plane always passed more slowly than real time.

"Damn it!" Raven flew out the window, "It could already be too late. I'll never make it in time!"

* * *

"Robin!"

Raven's voice crackled over Robin's radio sitting in the Tower control room, "Robin, do you copy! Robin!"

_Click!_ With the slightest movement of his fingers, the assassin switched off the radio as well as the main computer's. Nonchalantly, he strolled down the hall and undid the claps to the Ravager costume as he went.

In the lab, Robin was still staring at the blood analysis report, a scared look in eyes. _Is it really you, Slade? Are you really alive?_

Slightly startled at the sound of the lab doors opening, Dick glanced over his shoulder briefly, "Was that the radio?"

"Yeah. Raven's on her way back."

"Good," Dick placed the sheet of the paper onto the countertop and braced himself against it, his stance wavering a bit, "And the other Titans? Any word from them, yet?" He brought his hand up to his forehead.

"Not yet. But I'm sure they're making their way back now as well. Hey," the blonde man stepped up behind the uneasy young man, "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," Robin forced a smile trying to hide his fear, "It's just probably the true symptoms of Xynothium withdrawal kicking in. Guess the fight with Doc Light pushed the rest of my body reserves of it out of my system."

"Hey, I'm impressed that you were even able to fight him in the first place in this condition. I should have never let you go," the assassin wrapped his arms around Dick's waist, planting a tender kiss on the back of his neck.

* * *

"No answer?" Flying as fast as she could, Raven swore under her breath. She brought the communicator to her lips again, "Starfire? Beast Boy? Cyborg? Do you copy?"

_NO, don't tell me he's gotten to them already! _After a moment of listening, she spoke again, "Can anyone here me?!"

_What was she going to do?_ Even if she got there in time to confront Slade, there was no way she or even she with Robin could defeat him. But she had to protect, Dick. After all _this was all her fault!_

It was _her_ idea to let the killer into the tower; she had told him to take the R-cycle back with them so he could be there for Robin. Even when the assassin was thinking of leaving, it was because of _her_ convincing that he stayed with them.

_Stupid! _She knew that there was something wrong when "Grant" wouldn't let her into his mind despite having once shared a soul space with her before. Yet she trusted him anyways. It was because Robin trusted him and she just wanted to see Robin smile again.

* * *

"Grant," Dick giggled when he felt a warm tongue glide up his neck, "Again? Now's not the time. The others could be back any minute." The young man leaned forward and tried wriggle free, "Come on, this is serious. I have to be ready to tell them about Slad--." The end of his sentence was enveloped in giddy laughter as the assassin continued his advances.

"Bored already, are we? I wonder," the blonde man lowered his voice, "since you're so obsess with it, would you pay more attention to me if I sounded more like _him._"

Even though it was only an imitation, Dick straightened up and froze at the sound of the voice coming from behind him. An eerie tingle ran down his spine.

"Dick?" The voice was gentle again, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…I just thought that…"

Melting slightly, Dick spoke firmly, "Never talk like that again, Grant."

"Of course," he lowered his head and released the young man.

_Almost there! Almost there!_ Raven panted. Her eyes began to tear more profusely as the wind whipped past her.

"Grant, I don't need to be carried to my room," Robin weakly protested. Though he had to admit he was feeling suddenly tired and weak.

"Hey, kid, I don't know about you but you looked like you were about to fall over," the blonde shrugged, "Besides, I'll take any chance I can get. I won't be able to do this with the other Titans around."

"Right," Dick nodded. Then after a small pause, "I want you to know that I'm not ashamed of you, Grant and I think it's time I told the others about us."

The tall man stopped walking, "Dick…"

"I mean, maybe not right when they get back—I think the news about Slade will be heavy enough—but soon, at the next chance I get. You see, Grant, I want you to join us…I want you to stay."

"Thank you, Dick."

"What's wrong? You don't sound like you want to?"

"Dick I would want nothing more and I will stay as long as I can. However, the paths we have chosen in life, though intersecting, are in complete opposition. I am not quite sure how long we can--"

Suddenly the doors at the end of the hall flung open. Raven's cape billowed in the strong breeze behind her.

"Slade!" She shouted, "What have done to Dick?"

The assassin's initially wide blue eyes narrowed, "What did you call me?"

"Raven, you're back!" Dick grinned. Despite his spinning head, he gestured to the taller man to put him down, "Grant hasn't done anything. He's just helping me back to my room."

"Funny that you mention Slade, though," Dick continued as the blonde set him down gently, "That blood analysis I had you run came back as a positive ID on—"

_Bang!_ It all happened as if in slow motion. Telekinetically grabbing the closest piece of furniture, Raven flung it down the hall at the assassin. The impact sent him to the mirror at the far end of the corridor.

"Grant!" Fighting his disequilibrium, Robin ran towards him.

But before Robin could reach him, Raven's grabbed Dick's wrist.

Pulling Robin close, Raven took control of the glass shards, in very much the same manner as she did at the Wilson Estate, and shot them directly at the Ravager keeping him down.

"No!" Dick's eyes widened at the sight of the reflective glass sinking into the blond man's body. As he fell back to the ground, his head jerked back suddenly as a larger fragment of glass produced a generous spurt of crimson from his right eye.

Robin's hand instinctively went for his utility belt. He swore at himself when he remembered that he had removed it since they had returned and that he had left it in the lab.

Still weak from Xynothium withdrawal and unable to resist Raven's pull Dick stumbled behind Raven to avoid being dragged. "Raven, what are you doing? Stop!"

"Dick, that man," Raven spoke breathless, still frantically pulling Robin along, "that man back there. Isn't Grant. He's—" She stopped in midsentence, quickly pulling them aside into the dark stairwell, "Shh…shhh." She backed him up against the concrete wall and covered Dick's mouth with her hand, listening.

Robin's eyes trembled. Raven's vicious attack on Grant played over and over in his mind. _Just like his dream…there was just so much blood._

* * *

In immense pain, the assassin clapped his hand over his right eye socket and pulled the larger shards of glass from his body.

"_Do it now,"_ a familiar voice hissed in his ear.

"But I--," the blonde plea was interrupted by a sharp twist of pain within his innards. He screamed.

"_Stop playing around! Do what I sent you back for. Otherwise you will know true eternal pain."_

"As you wish…master…" he murmured, a placid look settling over his face as his deep wounds, save for his eye, quickly healed up. Tearing fabric from his tattered mask, he quickly fastened it around his head and over his eye.

* * *

After what she thought had been footsteps past, Raven enveloped them in a dark blanket of shadowed wings. When she lifted them, they found themselves several levels lower, in the caverns under the tower.

Smooth, obsidian and lava rock formations surrounded them, remnants of their past battle with Addie 1 year ago. Terra's rock solid form stared sadly out over the two as they continued to the escape exit at the back of the caverns. Clear water dripped steadily off her chin and from the stalactites, sending lonely echoes throughout.

"Raven…" Dick finally spoke up, again, "What you were saying about Grant back there, you don't mean that…"

Raven stopped walking for a moment, "He _is_ Slade, Dick."

"Just because that was his father doesn't make him—"

"No, Robin!" Her voice reverberated against the cave walls, "The man that who we thought was Grant is really…Slade…" she trailed off, her eyes growing large as well. Suddenly she raised her hand and caught something out of the air.

Between her fingertips was a single, emerald green feather. "Beast boy," she whispered as she rolled the feather over. The two of them gasped. The other side of the feather was completely singed and covered in ash.

"But they had gone to fight Professor Chang," Robin said

After a moment of shock, the two both ran further into the cave.

"Starfire! Cyborg!" Dick found their fallen comrades lying not far from each other behind Terra's frozen form.

Shining parts of Cyborg lay strewn about Robin's feet. His chest plate had been smashed in and the wires to a shattered hand were still weakly sparking.

The Tammeranian lay in a battered heap, her eyes puffy and halfway open. Her vibrant red hair had fallen smoothly almost neatly across the smooth volcanic rock floor.

"They're breathing…but just barely," Robin gently brushed the hair out of Starfire's eyes. He retracted his hand when she moaned softly, "They're badly burned. We have to get them to the infirmary fast."

"Beast boy is over here," Raven waved from a part of the cave that opened up, "He tried fly out…but he didn't make it…"

Robin knelt down to check the changeling's pulse.

"Wait, he's coming around. He's trying to say something," Robin leaned in close, "Beast boy? Can you hear me? Who did this?"

Beast Boy said only one thing before passing out again, "…Slade…"

Dick whipped his head up, the fearful look returning to his face, "But how? How did he get into the tower? And if he already got in, why didn't he come after me next?"

"Because, hard as it may be to grasp, I'm not after you this time, Dick," the soft maniacal tone made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end, "Raven, on the other hand. You my dear," Slade stepped into the cavern, his footsteps making hollow noises, "when I heard about you, I don't know why I didn't seek you sooner. I should have known. It's always the quiet ones…"

"Grant?" Dick stood up and turned around, the tears finally falling from his eyes.

"Please, stop denying what's been laid out so neatly in front of you, Dick. And please stop calling me that. You don't know how long it took me to respond to that name and to hear it without cringing. And oh, how many times you said it when we were together." He smirked, "It's such an ugly name. Of course it was his mother who named him."

Eyes trembling, Dick sank to his knees. A sick feeling writhed in his stomach.

Slade took a few steps closer, "Oh please, Dick, don't look so horrified. Didn't you enjoy the lie?" He loomed over Robin, casting him in a shadow, "Didn't I make all your dreams come true?" He brought his hand up to cup Robin's chin.

Dick lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't bear to look at that face anymore! But no matter how hard he squeezed his eyelids shut, the more and more vividly he could see it. All his memories of his time together with Grant burned quickly through his mind. _"We'll make you new memories…"_

_They were all lies! And he had enjoyed it…_

"But I don't have time for you now," he struck Dick once across with face with his closed fist, casting him aside. He walked towards Raven, "I have a message that needs to be delivered."

Scowling the demon girl backed up against the cave wall and raised her psychic shields around her hands and forearms. Though she had moved to block herself, it was to no avail. Slade's hands had burst into flame, tearing right through her shields. She shrieked as he grabbed her struggling wrists. Lifting her off the ground, he spread her arms apart.

She shouted even more as a hot pain snaked down her arms, burning her sleeves away, and leaving behind an intricate, ember red pattern across her skin. Slowly, as the markings progressed, Raven's hair began to lengthen.

Just as the burning reached her shoulders, running footsteps came up from behind Slade. The initial kick blindside him while the second broke his contact with Raven.

"Raven, run!" Dick shouted over his shoulder as he engaged the assassin.

Slade's laughter grew louder as Raven's footsteps faded, "How noble." He stood up, his head at a funny angle. Dick's mouth fell open.

Cocking his head, Slade cracked his neck in three places, straightening it out before he continued, "But you of all people should know that no one can run from fate. No matter how hard she runs, she will never escape me. Therefore, I will deal with you now!"

He advanced on Dick. Robin swerved his body to the left, striking Slade several times as he avoided Slade's moves.

"Hahaha," Slade wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He licked his lips, "Why, Dick. You've gotten better. How wonderful."

They continued to exchange blows, their struggling shouts echoing throughout the cave. Robin wasn't sure how long he could continue fighting while in such a weakened state. He felt considerably slower and his arms were growing heavier by the second. He shouted as Slade buried his fists into his abdomen.

Finally, Slade grabbed Dick by the neck and slammed him against the stone floor.

Pinned to the ground, Dick coughed, the wind having left his lungs momentarily. Back and forth, Slade threw his fist across Robin's face until the boy grew limp and spat blood.

"My, I am impressed, Dick. Why did you never fight that way for me?" He tightened his grip around Dick's neck, "But honestly, did you think you could beat me without Xynothium or even a utility belt?"

"I don't need Xynothium to beat you!" Robin said from behind his teeth

"And what makes you think that? Is it because of the power Grant's love gives you?" His shoulders shook with laughter as he leaned in close, his hot breath against Robin's ear, "You know what I find funny, Dick? You claim to love Grant so much and yet, though we were together so many times…you didn't even notice a difference! Based on the sounds you made, I dare say you enjoyed me even more."

"AHHHHH!" Dick cried, angry tears streaming down his face. _Had all his feelings been lies? _He struggled uselessly against Slade's grip. Dick's hands clawed futilely across the smooth rock floor, searching for something, _anything_ he could use. Slade slammed him back against the floor again.

He chuckled darkly, "Shall I remind you of those times right here, in front of all your friends?"

Dick looked away as Slade touched him. His eyes widened slightly from his scowl at the sight of Starfire's half open eyes staring back at him from across the floor where she lay. Her lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. Barely able to make out the motion of her soft pink lips, Dick could hardly read them.

She was saying…his name…over and over, again.

"Look at you," Slade shook head, "You are pathetic."

"Why me?" Robin sobbed, "Why, after all these years, have you chosen to torment only me?"

Slade laughed again, "I have no idea why you still fascinate me so. But, Robin, you forget that it was actually you who came to me. You walked into my open hand. How many sleepless nights have you spent searching for me or even thinking about me? What did you expect to happen when you sought the devil?"

"I expect the devil to go to hell," a voice echoed out from behind Slade. As he turned around, a foot caught the corner of his jaw. Slade's hands dropped from Robin as he was met with more blows. Dick lay still, unable to move.

"Rose?" Slade gasped, his voice slightly hoarse. He backed up a few steps.

"Not exactly, Father."

Out of the corner of his eye, Dick could see their diffuse shadows sweep across the cavern walls as they fought. The thin girl was fast and fighting pattern was smooth… just like the Ravager's used to be…

The last thing Dick heard before he lost consciousness completely was echoing voices.

"That voice. The way you talk… It could mean only one thing…But he's dead…"

"And so are you."

"What are you doing? Your eyes…"

"That's right, Father. Give into Jericho…Let me in…"

"NO! This is impossible! This is my body! You can't force me out of my own body! You can't take this from me! You failed the first time you tried, why is it working now?"

"We are stronger together, Father. Your curses won't work on all three of us."

"NOOOOOOO!" It was the first time Dick had ever heard Slade scream.

* * *

_(Later...in the infirmary...)_

"Sooo let me get this straight…" Beast Boy spoke slowly gesturing with a pointed finger, "You're Jericho…right now…who's possessing your sister Rose…who also had the Ravager stuck in her head? All of which, along with Slade's voodoo curses, was making her go crazy and try to kill everyone?" He continued to wiggle his fingers in an undulating matter even after saying the word, "voodoo."

"That is correct," Jericho said flatly, keeping Rose's expression placid. It had been nearly the 4th time they had been through this round of questioning. But Beast Boy simply had not been content with Joseph previous, shorter explanations.

"So…just because you guys saved us by administering a little medicinal Xynothium we're now automatically supposed to trust you guys and assume the guy with Robin now is the real Ravager in Slade's younger reincarnated body? I mean how do we know that's not just Slade pretending, again?"

Joseph let out a small sigh, "While you were unconscious, I successfully transferred my brother's soul to my father's new body. This is an entirely different process than my normal possession process. Instead of going directly into his soul space, I made cunning use of the nether plane. This was an idea that came to me after Raven showed me it. Once I pushed him into the nether plane, Slade became easily lost and, unlike myself, was unable to trace the spirit energy back to his own body. Having done this, I was able to lead my brother into the vacancy left behind."

Beast Boy only blinked, his eyes having glazed over only after Joseph's second sentence.

"In other words, had you been awake for the process, you would have seen the end result, which manifests itself as the hazy outline of a bleached white skeleton being literally pushed out of Slade's screaming mouth. Now does that explanation suffice?"

"Dude…" was all that he evoked from Beast Boy.

"Besides, if it were still him, I would know. My father wishes to harm Raven and I will not allow that."

Finally, the little green changeling seemed satisfied. He expressed this with a single nod.

Sadly, this was short lived.

"So…" Beast boy raised his finger up again, "…what would you say the chances that I would have with Rose if I asked her out on a date?"

Starfire and Cyborg, who were sitting on the opposite bed, only shook their heads in silence.

* * *

Dick's pale skin shivered in the shower that had since grown ice cold. He curled his legs tightly against his body, "All this time...it was _him…"_ his irises trembled in his wide eyes, "It was all a lie…all of it. I didn't even know…I have to get clean…I have to wash him out of me… I have to get clean…I have to…" He repeated over and over again.

"Dick," Grant reached out to the young man in the corner of the shower, "It's me, the real Grant this time. I'm here now and you're safe, I promise. Please…get out of there. You'll catch cold if you stay in there."

Robin flinched back away from Grant's open hands, "N-no! Get away! Don't touch me. Not with _those_ hands. You look so much like him…you even smell like him…everything smells like him. I have to wash him out of me…I have to get clean…"

The Ravager lowered his head and backed away, a sad, hurt look on his face, "Dick, your friends along with my brother and I are going to look for Raven. Though Slade no longer has this body, he's still out there. We have to find her before he does. Do you want to come with us, Dick? For Raven's sake?"

Dick just drew his knees up more tightly, still muttering to himself.

"Alright, then. I just want to make sure that you're nice and warm before we leave." Grant stood up and began to back out of the room, "Starfire has put out a clean bleached towel for you. If you get cold, I want you to use it OK?" Grant tried to force a smile, "I promise I didn't touch it."

"…have to get clean…have to wash him out…" Robin continued to whisper.

* * *

Grant shut the bathroom door quietly behind himself.

"Well?" Vic stood up to meet the Ravager.

Grant shook his head, "It's no use. He won't listen to me either. He won't even make eye contact."

"Then we'll have to go without him," Jericho stood up as well.

"I don't know," Grant glanced back at the bathroom door, "I can't bear to leave him alone like this. Perhaps you can go on without me?"

"Brother, as long as you or the rest of us are here, he will not come out. He is ashamed and blames himself for what has happened. Our presence here and your likeness to Father is likely keeping him away."

"But we are comrades," Starfire piped up, "Why should not at least one of us stay here with him?"

"And you would rather leave your other comrade, Raven, who is running for her life without your assistance?" Jericho kept his soft flat tone, though he narrowed Rose's sharp eyes, ever so slightly.

"No I…" Starfire peeped.

"When I was transferring Grant into Slade's body I saw something. I assumed it was something in his immediate memory. You saw it too, didn't you Grant?"

Grant nodded slightly, "It was only a glimpse, but I saw 4 slanted, red eyes and… antlers."

"So what does that even mean?" Cyborg crossed his arms.

"It means that we need everyone to look for Raven. If we do not find her first, I fear that something far more sinister will occur than if we were to leave Robin here. I know that it is not my place to order you around. But I am strongly suggesting you do as I advise."

"Heh," Vic walked over to Joseph. Jericho stood his ground, though Rose's body was significantly shorter than Cyborg's, "You like her don't you?"

Caught off guard, Joey broke his calm gaze, "What? No, I just…"

"It's OK. You don't have to explain anymore. I agree that we should all look for Raven. The more of us there are, the faster we'll find her. Besides," he glanced at the closed bathroom door, "I don't think Robin will be going anywhere."

* * *

_(In the bathroom shower…)_

Though Dick knew he was physically alone. He could feel the presence of the rotting ghost standing in front of him.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," Addie cackled, "Pathetic weakling."

"Quiet," Dick said firmly.

"Oh but it's true. You used to be so great; fighting alongside Batman; fearlessly leading the Titans; and often holding your own against even Slade. But now look at you…shivering like a coward. What happened? You used to be more concerned with things that really mattered, like justice and revenge. But now all your thoughts circle around nothing but petty school girl issues. 'Was it true love?' 'Was it all a lie?'" She mocked.

"Shut up!"

"But I can make you better again, Robin. Like we did before," she sat down on his level, folding her corpse legs neatly to the side, "we can make them all bleed for their sins. Just give into me and we will make them all go away. Since you bonded yourself to the Red X suit, your body belongs to me anyways. So just give in."

"Never. I'll never give into you, Addie."

"Heh. Suit yourself, school boy," her golden eyes glistened, "But believe it or not, you and I have a lot common, actually."

"_We are so very much alike." "You're exactly like him. I would expect nothing less from the son of the Bat." "You have your father's eyes and stubbornness."_ Phrases Robin had heard from before resurfaced in his mind all at once. Why could he never be his own man?

"NO! I am nothing like you!" Dick turned away from gray corpse.

"Oh please, Grayson, stop wailing so dramatically," she draped her arms around the naked young man's shoulder, "Open your eyes. Why do you think we bonded so well? Why do you think Slade sought you specifically to bond with me? He is quite fascinated with you, after all. "

"_You remind me of her, Dick…your aura...and for that…I love you, Dick!"_ Slade's past words echoed in his mind.

"You're like me," Addie hissed hotly, "We both continue to live when all logic tells us we should have already died several times over. What drives you to continue on isn't justice or peace, but hate and death."

"No. No. You're trying to confuse me," he continued to stare at the blank tile wall in front of him, "It's not going to work."

"You cannot deny what you are, Grayson. Face it. I'm not the only monster here. It was your hate of Two Face that drove you over the edge first; and then with the Titans, it was your hate of Slade; even when he wiped your memory clean it was your hate of Batman that kept you fighting for him, was it not?"

Slowly, Dick lifted his head, his eyes growing wide again. _Was she right?_

"When there was nothing left to hate," she went on, her yellow toothed grin growing, "when Batman had cast you away and Slade was gone, you didn't know what to do with yourself. So you turned to Xynothium, like a low life junkie. It wasn't for justice, it wasn't to protect 'those you love,' like you keep telling yourself. No, _those_ are the lies. You know you selfishly did it so you would still have someone to hate."

Addie leaned in closer to Dick, "Don't you see, Grayson? You intentionally kept me alive so you could continue hating your own weakness. Despite all your power, constant preparations, and training, you chose to crumble to self-pity and loathing." She shook her head, "Pathetic. I don't know how I haven't been able to reclaim—"

"AHHHH. Shut up!" He lunged at her. Straddling Slade's former wife, he squeezed his fist around her neck, crushing her soft trachea.

"Hahahaha! That's more like it, Grayson! Hate!" Her body convulsed in more bouts of laughter, "But I'm afraid that you can't kill me like this, here and in your own mind. We're both already dead you see? You're stuck with me forever, Grayson."

"AHHHHHHHH." Dick threw his head back and screamed endlessly while infinitely tightening his grip around her throat.

* * *

Outside, set in their quest to find Raven, the Titans neatly filed out of the room. As the hesitant one, Grant was the last to leave. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks.

Giggles. Were his ears playing tricks on him? Giggles were echoing out of the bathroom.

Though the snickering soon turned into full out laughter, they sounded painful; almost sob-like.

As he left, Grant's face grew more concerned and woeful. Never had he heard Dick laugh so hard before.

"HAHAHA," Dick tipped his head back, the cold water streaming down his face. He smiled more widely, "Yes…I understand now…Hahahaha…"

* * *

**Additional author's notes:** Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was one that I had wanted to write for a while. Based on my notes, the next chapter will actually be the last one, followed by an epilogue (I can't believe this fic is almost over). So get your reviews in and let me know what you think! :)


	9. Red

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

**Author's Notes: **So finally here's the final chapter to our little follow up. Sorry for taking a little bit longer than expected, however, the final chapter is extra long and a lot of things happen. Plus I had decided to release the epilogue chapter along with this one instead of putting them out separately in order to wrap things up more neatly.

So please enjoy this final chapter and let me know what you think! Review plz!

* * *

"_Yes…I understand, now…"_

**Chapter 9: Red**

"Dick? "

When the bat cave lights flickered on, Barbra jumped, "Jesus, you scared me."

Placing a hand over her heart she let a sigh and continued down the cave steps. "You know you could have used the front door and said 'hi' to Alfred, at least. I swear you're becoming more and more like Bruce everyday…" she said half to herself.

"Sorry," as if he were caught in the middle of something, Dick quickly slipped something into his leather jacket pocket and turned around slowly, "Guess old habits die hard." He forced a friendly smile, "Aren't you supposed to be on patrol with Bruce?"

"The night is still young, old chum," she teased before starting to type on the main computer, "I have a few things to take care of first so I'm going to rendezvous with him later. Anyways, what do you need?"

"Need?" Dick stepped up behind her.

Batgirl stopped typing and swiveled around in her chair. For some reason, her heart skipped a beat when she faced him. Dick was cast in a diffuse shadow, standing in a darker spot in the cave where none of the lights converged. There was something different about him; something troubling that Barbra couldn't place her finger on.

"Well to be honest, you don't come here that often anymore, Dick, and when you do, it's usually because you want something," she adjusted her glasses as if to get a better look at him.

Dick nodded his head once, his gentle smile turning genuine. She knew him far too well.

He stepped into the light. "I actually don't have much time, Babs. Raven is in trouble and I came because I do need something from you. Something I couldn't destroy. I know I told you to keep it from me even if I came begging for it like I am now, but I'm asking you to forget that, at least for the moment. I understand now what I have to become to protect those I love." He took a step closer, "Please, Barbra, help me."

For a moment, Barbra didn't say anything. Finally, she turned back around in her chair and began to type swiftly, "Give me a moment and I can suit up. I'll call Bruce too. We can be in Jump in 10 minutes."

"No, Barbra," he placed his hands over her slender fingers, "I don't want to get you two involved. I just need you to give me what I came for."

Batgirl flinched slightly at his touch. His hands were ice cold.

"God…you _are_ becoming a lot like him…" she retorted.

Robin straightened up, his dark eyes hardening,"I'm nothing like Slade."

"Who? No, Dick, I was talking about Bruce. As long as the ends justify the means, you'll do anything," gently, she tried to pull back from Dick. His grip had tightened considerably and he was beginning to frighten her, "And you always think you have to do it all alone."

Robin lowered his head. His face and grip softened slightly. "I'm not like him either, Babs," a tender smile spread across his lips again, "If I was…I'd still have you."

"Dick…what we had was…"

"Nothing. It was nothing to you. It's alright," Dick cast his eyes to the ground, "You'll get over it. I'm actually glad you chose him. I can see why too. He doesn't have to make the sacrifices I have to in order to protect you." He chuckled with a hint of sadness, "All my life I've never been able to do anything alone. I'm weak and I've always had to rely on others. First at the Haley's Circus with the family acrobatics, then Batman and later you, and after that it was the Titans. I've never been strong enough to fight by myself." He brought his gaze back up to her, "That's why I've come here. I understand now what I need to do to be strong."

Staring back into Robin's eyes, Barbra cocked her head slightly. In the dim light his eyes seemed to have a strange golden glint to them. Had they always been like that?

"So I ask you again, Barbra," Dick got on his knees so that he was on level with her, "please, give me the power to alter fate…give me the power of Red X."

"Dick…" when she touched his face he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry. I can't. You _are_ actually very strong, but…there's no way of knowing if you'd be able to control her this time."

Robin opened eyes slowly, a calm expression washing over them, "I was afraid you'd say that."

Barbra gasped. The irises of Dick's eyes were completely golden now. When he lunged at her, she tried to jump up, but instead she found herself restricted by the large chair.

"Dick, what are you doing? NO!" Struggling against Robin's tight grip she managed to strike him once across the face, "DICK! NO!"

Unfazed by the blow, he wrestled her to the cold floor. His dark bangs fell into his eyes as he restrained her subsequent struggles against him.

_Was this how Batman had you? Was this how he took you, my first love, away?_ The contemptuous thought along with the disgusting memory of discovering them fucking each other in the Bat Cave briefly sprang up in Robin's mind.

"Dick, please. Please don't do this!" Tears began to flood the red head's eyes.

Suddenly, Batgirl felt her pulse jump as something cold sank into her neck. Dick placed the automatic syringe back into his pocket.

"Shh…shh. Don't worry, Babs," Dick crooned, stroking her hair, "That was just a quick acting sedative. Shh…everything is going to be alright."

Barbra only cried harder as she felt the energy behind her struggles deplete, "Damn you, Dick. Damn you! You were down here looking for the suit, weren't you? Well I'm never going to tell you where I hid it, Dick. For the sake of you and everyone else, I can't."

Robin shook his head. He continued to hold her wrists firmly, though her struggling had ceased to nothing but weak muscle contractions. "You don't need to. I already know you're wearing it."

Behind tousled locks of red hair, Barbra's eyes grew large.

"It's the safest place in Gotham," a fond smile touched his lips, "Besides, with you so close now, Addie and I can even …smell it…we can sense it on you." He breathed in deeply through his nose.

"Addie and _you?_"

"The suit needs blood to bond to the user and to become active, "Dick sat back, now that Barbra's movements had stopped completely, "without the proper cuts and slices to your skin before donning it for the first time, it becomes nothing more than a soft fabric suit. So there was no danger of you hiding it on your person like that."

Despite her sobs, Dick began to unbutton her clothes. "To hide something so dangerous so closely to you is actually quite smart." He smiled down at her again, "I knew I made the right choice leaving it with you."

"Dick…don't do this," her voice was becoming weak as she started to fully succumb to the sedative, "…don't do this…"

"I'm sorry, Barbra," Dick whispered softly as he brought his arms around her and to the seam in the back. Further widening the seam apart, he pulled the fabric from around her shoulders. Her soft, fiery hair draped over his hands.

"…don't…" Barbra's mouth barely moved as her head tipped back. The sedative had finally put her out.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again, a previously swallowed sadness finally welling up in his eyes. He always hated seeing her cry.

With a few firm jerks, Robin stripped the pitch black suit from her smooth white body.

Before he left, he wrapped her snuggly in one of Batman's spare capes and placed her gently into the computer chair again. He ran his fingers through her smooth, red hair to straighten it out.

"Goodbye, Barbra," he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.

* * *

Lungs burning with fatigue, Raven stumbled, skinning her knee. With all her erratic running and flying she had finally found herself on the abandon sector of the South side. Since the incident with Mad Mod's mini-machines, rebuilding had yet to even begin.

"Get up! Get up!" She urged herself.

"You know it's pointless to run," Slade's voice carried down the rubble laden street, "You may be able to suspend time as you did back there at the clock tower with all the other Titans, but you can't stop fate."

Raven scooted back across the rough ground as Slade came closer, trying to regain her footing.

"Come now, stop struggling. I just want to complete the message I was sent to deliver." Though he was clad in his signature split, black and red suit, Raven could feel his evil smirk bleeding through his metallic mask, "I won't do anything more to you after that, I promise."

"Stay back!" Telekinetically elevating the charred skeleton of a nearby truck, Raven hurled it down the street with great velocity. It revolved several times, end over end, until it reached the assassin. It enveloped him and the surrounding buildings in a massive fireball on impact. Before the smoke cleared, she let out a shout, sending out dark shadows of raven claws. They scrapped across the skyscrapers along the street, bringing them crumbling down around Slade.

Raven panted. _Had she finally stopped him?_

"No," Raven gasped.

With a flash of hot fire, Slade appeared from the wreckage. Burning embers and ash fell steadily from the sky as he walked calmly towards her. Any debris that came into contact with his body simply vaporized. The smoldering red symbol on his forehead was blazing even more than before, now.

"The message _will_ be delivered," Slade reached out to grab the half-demon.

All of the sudden, his reach was cut short by a shower of ninja darts. They sank neatly into the rocky earth in a single line in front of him, drawing a line between him and the girl.

A firm hand grabbed Raven and pulled her up.

"Joseph?" Raven clung to Rose's shoulders from behind, "Why were you not affected by the time freeze?"

"I don't know," Jericho whispered over his shoulder, "Perhaps its effects are only within a certain radius."

"Rose, Joseph," Slade's eye narrowed, "I'm very disappointed in you two. I was hoping you would understand that I am doing this for both of your sakes. Everything I do is for you and your mother."

"And you think that just by saying that I'll let you touch her?" Raven had never thought she would ever hear Joseph speak so angrily, "How does allying yourself with a devil fit into that logic, Father?" Holding Raven's hand tightly, Jericho began to back away.

"To make a world into the image of your dreams you cannot simply overtake it and rule it with an iron fist. You must first break it and burn it to the ground before it can be rebuilt in your own image."

"Your logic is twisted, Father. Life is not meant to be so easy to fix."

"No doubt you say that because I've failed so many times to cure you of your catatonic state. You think I've failed you as a father."

"That's not it all, Father. Though you had left most of Rose's and my growing up in the hands of mother and Grant, I am aware of all your efforts to provide; and I thank you for everything you've done and all the sacrifices you've made for us. But it is clear that we've all made our choices now and now we must see those paths to the end."

"Heh," Slade clenched his fist, igniting it into a ball of flame, "Stubborn just like your mother."

Rose's shimmering blue-green eyes widened. Turning around, Joseph pushed Raven in front of him, "Run! I'll be right behind y—"

There was an explosion at Raven's back. Like a rag doll, Rose's body flung past her. The shockwave threw Raven to the ground, once more.

For a split second, Raven could see the thin, hazy outline of Joseph being swept out of Rose's body and into the hot, night air. His eyes were wide with shock and he was reaching out to her.

"Joseph!" Raven screamed as his lucid fingertips slipped between her's. By the time, Rose's unconscious body struck the ground, he had vanished.

"Now where were we," Slade shrugged, gesturing with his smoking right hand.

_Whiff! Clink! _There was the swift sound of a blade being drawn.

"Oh dear," Slade rolled his eye, "I was wondering when you were going to show up too. And oh look, you and Rose have matching costumes. How cute…"

Raven looked up to see the Ravager standing protectively over her, ready to take on Slade with his katana. "Go!" He shouted at her over his shoulder.

Nodding, she stood up and took off down the street.

"You're always the son that gets in my way. But I'm glad you showed up, Grant. Really, I am," Slade continued.

"Well that's a first," the Ravager growled, advancing on his father.

"Tell me, Grant," Slade swayed side to side, avoiding the katana slices, "Are you enjoying the body?" With his arm a hot glow, he swatted at the katana, melting in half on contact.

Shocked, Grant threw down his half of a sword. He jumped back once before engaging Slade with a string of kicks and punches. Not even, winded yet, the split-masked assassin lightly blocked each blow as if they were nothing but fly bites.

"Tell me, Grant," Slade repeated, "How does it feel?" With great swiftness, Grant's father raised an open hand into the air. His palm faced the Ravager and was glowing red again.

All of the sudden, with a jerk, Grant froze, in mid kick.

Slade laughed at the scared expression that grew across Grant's face.

"My body, I can't…" Grant's voice shook with straining, "What have you done?"

"My boy, did you think that you could take _my_ body without any strings attached? Witness, my little marionette, the power Master has given me!" With a slight gesture of his hand, he brought Grant to his hands and knees and forced his shaking body to bow his head low. Slade continued to chuckle darkly. He could make him do anything he wanted in this position.

Grant let out a shout as Slade brought his foot down on his head, slamming him against a slab of uneven concrete several times. Slowly, with each impact, the knot that held Grant's cowl on loosened. After some time, it slipped completely off.

Finally, Slade gently placed his steel toed boot under the Ravager's chin, raising it so that Grant could gaze up at him. Blood ran profusely down Grant's face.

Grant panted. It felt like a vice was being slowly tightened around his heart.

"You know, Grant, you remind me so much of myself when I was your age. Even when you were in your own body you actually did look like me. I'm flattered that despite our mutual, eternal hate for one another, you actually followed into my footsteps as a mercenary killer." Taking a fistful of Grant's golden hair, He pulled his son's limp body up.

"You always want what is mine, don't you? You always try to take it all away from me," Slade pressed on, "The estate, Joseph and Rose's adoration—to think they even consider you more like their father—_my body, _and even Robin. You're always getting in my way!" With his hot, red hand he seized Grant by the throat, squeezing hard.

Grant couldn't even scream with pain from the searing burns, the air was leaving him so quickly. Slade laughed at his eldest son, as he could not control or even move his body to struggle against the choking.

"But," suddenly Slade let go of Grant's throat dropping him to the ground.

The Ravager coughed and sputtered as the air flooded his lungs again. He blinked, the light returning to his swollen eyes.

"Hmmm…we mustn't damage you too terribly; for I have plans for you," Slade grabbed Grant by the neck again and began to drag him across the ground, "And when this is all over, perhaps Master will return _my_ body to me. He may even be delighted to find that now he will have an additional soul, your soul, to play with."

* * *

_(Meanwhile…back at the Tower…)_

Dick winced as he pressed the cool, sterile blade into the faded, white scar on his chest. Turning himself around in front of the full length mirror, he continued to make small X-shaped cuts on his shoulders, arms, and legs; just like Slade had done to him when first bonding him to the suit.

"_Yes…I understand now…"_ the recent dialog with Addie ran through his mind.

_He had smiled widely, the cold water steaming down past his sad eyes, "…it's all a lie. My existence, my purpose for living on and fighting…everything is meaningless." _

"_Finally, you're starting to see the light," Addie crossed her arms, a thin smirk spreading across her wormy lips._

"_I don't even remember why I care for my friends, the Titans, like I do," he lowered his head and hugged his knees, "Perhaps even Grant's feelings for me are nothing but a lie as well. Maybe they were nothing but a manifestation of the influence of Raven's soul on him. Even my love for him could have been only a result of your love and your presence, Addie, as his mother, in my brain…"_

_For once Addie didn't retort something back. Unknown to Dick, the smug look on her face had completely melted away._

_After a moment she uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, "But you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Her voice was surprising gentler._

_Dick grit his teeth, his face contorting into a painful expression, "YES! I did!" He whipped his head up the tears spilling out of his eyes, "I shamelessly admit it, OK?! Why does everyone keep saying that? I get it already! Dick Grayson is nothing but a fucking Xynothium whore who's tired of living and being fucked over again and again. I just want to wake up from this nightmare …but I'm too cowardly to do anything different than live on and be fucked again." He dropped his head in between his bare knees again, the echoes of his shouts still ricocheting throughout his mind._

"_That's not what I meant to imply, "Addie kept her oddly tender tone. In an odd sort of way, it reminded Dick of his mother's._

"_Then what," Dick said, his voice barely audible._

"_You're life and purpose, as I've convinced you, are, indeed, made of nothing but lies. Perhaps, even what you say about your relationship with my son is true, but these things don't change the emotions you had," she stated, "I was there, in your mind, when met Grant and I know that with him, you were happy. He was happy too."_

_A gentle smile touched Addie's gray lips, "Love is reciprocal and must be returned for such a bond to truly exist. Though it is possible that my love for my son and your friend's love for you brought you two together, it doesn't change the fact that your feelings for each other were true. So what if it was all was based on lies? They still existed, didn't they? Hell, you may question why you live on and this may all be a dream, as you say. But you still exist, don't you? "_

_Slowly, Dick lifted his head, "Why are you encouraging me? Don't you want me dead so you can take my body for your own and declare genocide on all metahumans?"_

_The rotting ghost shrugged, "I still crave for those things. I yearn to make them all bleed! And I __will__ tear your body from you one day." She clenched her fisted tightly, "But like I said, we have a few things in common. We both want Slade gone and…and you reminded me of my love for my son. I don't know how I almost forgot that. The reason why I became mistress of the HIVE in the first place and seek revenge on the metahumans was because I could not protect my children from them. I suppose in that sense, our paths in life are similar as well."_

_She shrugged again, "Who knows, perhaps being stuck in your head all this time is finally having its effect on me. Did you ever consider that maybe 'influence' and 'emotion' are two way streets, Grayson?"_

_As if finding a new strength, Robin rose from the floor of the cool tiled shower._

"_Very well, Addie," he said, "you will have your wish. For your clair voyance, I will relinquish my body to you. However, I will only do so after either Slade's defeat or my death, whichever comes first. Like Raven and Grant had done before, we will unite so that we may strike down our enemy and protect that which we value." He turned the knob of the shower closed, "My only condition is that no harm will come to any of my friends. In other words, you must promise to protect them at all costs, despite any of your future intentions."_

"_Excellent," Addie's golden eyes narrowed, her thin, smug smile returning, "I do believe we finally have a contract, Dick Grayson."_

Still standing in front of the mirror, Dick squeezed his eyes shut as he split one palm, then the other open as well.

Once he slipped the suit on, it clung to his body, responding immediately to his blood. A cool shiver ran up his back as the suit's seam automatically annealed up his spine.

"Good," he thought, "Even though Xynothium is out of my system, it still recognizes me."

Slowly, as Robin felt the blood began to course through the suit, the X across the chest appeared, seeping in from black to vivid red.

Finally, after one last cut across his forehead, Dick took a deep breath and quickly pulled the dark cowl over his head. His screams echoed throughout the Tower as he felt the fully completed suit re-bond to his body.

* * *

"SLADE!"

The assassin was just standing there out on the ledge of a crumbling building, overlooking the singed and blackened ruins of what was formally known as "Banker's Plaza." Jagged, steel scraps of buildings littered the ground below, jutting out from the earth like the uneven spines on the back of a lizard.

"Slade!" Dick bellowed, again, his voice deforming and becoming multi-harmonic at the end of the shout. He revved the engine to his R-cycle, taking it over the edge of a higher, adjacent building.

Calmly, the resurrected man turned his gaze to the sky as Robin's motorcycle arced over him. In mid air, he leapt from the cycle. Still running, the bike struck and skidded over the edge of the rooftop. It fell in a twisting pattern before striking the ground far below. On impact, there was a small flash of orange as it caught fire.

Above Slade, the majestic pattern Dick's Xynothium wings blotted out the intense, orange sun. In a puff of feathers, the silhouette of the wings suddenly disappeared.

It happened so quickly and the sunlight had been so blinding that Slade barely had time to react to the storm of shurikens showering down upon him. The assassin took several jumps back, narrowly avoiding many but not all of the spinning blades. Several caught him across the abdomen and chest.

Before Slade knew it, Dick was descending on him as well in a flurry of swirling, red feathers with silver staff extended. The red Xynothium blade at the end of his staff glinted in the sun.

The curved reaper blade resonated as Dick locked it with Slade's flaming Bo staff. "It ends now, Slade," he hissed from behind the stark white, skull mask, "you're going to pay for everything you've taken from **us**!"

"Red X…no…" was all Slade managed to choke out, his voice straining.

Finally, the hot fire burned through the Xynothium blade and the two pushed back from each other. Swiftly reforming the curved blade, Robin came at the one-eyed assassin again.

The tattered cape of the Red X suit flapped rapidly in the hot wind as they exchanged blows, their weapons ringing against each other periodically.

Though the Red X suit had made him faster and stronger, Dick could feel his breath quickening as he began to fatigue slightly. Unlike all of Dick's other encounters with him, Slade wasn't being playful nor holding back anymore.

Eventually, with a quick flick of his burning Bo staff, Slade managed to sever Dick's staff in half. The reaper blade dropped to the ground in a flaccid puddle, having lost connection with the rest of Dick's staff.

"Unh!" Dick let out a small shout when Slade brought the flaming staff around again, striking him across the face. He winced as he felt the white, hot flames disintegrate a quarter of his mask, revealing his cheek and his left eye. Dropping the last half of his staff, Dick frantically patted out the demonic flames before they could progress further.

While he was distracted, Slade kicked him to the ground against a sharp concrete bolder and struck him once more across the abdomen. The flames hungrily licked up his side, singeing the scarlet X across his chest obsidian black.

"_Just give me control, boy! I can take him."_ Addie hissed in his mind as he struggled to stop the flames from consuming him.

"No," Dick mentally shot back, "not yet!"

"Ahh!" Dick shouted catching the end of Slade's glowing staff between his hands that the assassin had tried to push through him like a hot spear. "Ahhhh!" He let out a longer scream as he felt the fire eat through the palms of the suit, searing the Xynothium pores shut. With a final heave, Robin managed to bend the end of the staff into a strange angle and pull it away from the assassin.

Kicking up and wide, Dick dislodged the fire staff, from Slade's grip. With what little Xynothium left trickling out of the slits of his gloves and down his hands, he concentrated, turning them into sharp claws at the ends of his fingertips. He swiped at the stunned assassin, slicing him across the chest. Jumping up, he continued his onslaught. He shredded him a second time across the chest, once across the jaw, and then once down from above and across his steel mask.

There was sharp, long drawn out screech as he drew his claws down through the mask. Finally he pulled the assassin in close, driving his fingers deep into Slade's heart. The blood ran hot against Dick's palm as he pushed his hand into forever.

"Dick…" the whisper tickled his ear as the steel mask finally fell in fragments away from the assassin's face.

Dick's heart stopped. _That whisper…that gentle voice…_

The young man blinked several times, as the acid tears welled up behind his eyes, "Grant?" He hugged the other man's body more tightly against him. The blood was warm against the exposed skin of his abdomen.

Just across the street, on the rooftop of the Jump City's Space Needle, Dick caught site of a familiar, villainous figure wrestling with Raven. He was standing behind her, holding her firmly by both of her arms. He was hurting her! Yet, like always, he seemed to be calm. Despite Raven's thrashing, he was staring directly at Dick and Grant. Though Slade was far off, Dick knew a devilish smirk was growing across his face.

_So he was controlling your body, like a puppet…wouldn't let you speak… just so he could distract me…he's still __playing__ with me!_

"Why," Dick finally managed to say. He slowly withdrew his fingertips from Grant's chest, "why am I always the one killing you, Grant?"

Grant coughed and smiled feebly, "I'm glad it's always you…" His soft blonde bangs fell into his eyes as he slowly sank to the ground.

As a darkening puddle grew around them, Dick dropped to his knees. Tenderly, he took his lover into his arms. The reoccurring nightmare he had told Raven about finally made sense, now.

"Don't," Grant said. His deep sapphire eyes were smiling though his voice was growing weak, "Don't worry about me. Slade's body has healing abilities remember? I'll be OK. Just go to Raven. She needs you now."

Despite Robin's struggling, the tears finally flowed down his face, leaving a dark trail down the other half of his mask that was still intact.

"Go, Dick. Really, I'll be ok," he brought up a trembling hand to stroke Robin's exposed cheek. His fingertips left crimson smudges on Dick's face as his hand fell away.

Gently, placing his love down, Robin stood up and looked across the way, just in time to see Slade drop Raven's limp body over the edge of the steel tower they were on.

A small gasp escaped Robin's lips as he quickly jumped up and dove over the side of the building. With almost instinctive gracefulness, he swooped down and caught the young half-demon several feet from the twisted metal spires peppered across the ground below. They landed lightly, in a clear spot set equally in between the two buildings.

"Dick," Raven grinned, "You came for me."

"Of course," he tried to force another smile despite his growing sadness, "We share a bond, remember?" He propped her up against the base of one of the steel frames that jutted out from the ground, "You rest now." He stroked her head as she passed out from sheer exhaustion.

Before he could even think about going back for Grant, there was a flash of fire. When the heavy smoke cleared, Slade was standing in front of him, Grant's neck clutched tightly in his hand. Grant blinked sedately, his fading eyes staying fixed on Robin as his father smirked and began to drag him down the street towards a fiery portal that had appeared seconds after they had. Grant's body left a thick path of blood behind them as they went.

"Slade," Dick clenched his teeth and jumped in front of the assassin, blocking his path, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, Robin, look at you," Slade chided, "all dressed up in Red X just for me. I'm quite flattered, actually, seeing as you had sworn to never don her again. Though, I'm afraid you've dressed up for no reason. The message I've delivered to Raven is complete and the fate of this world has been sealed. Now all that which remains is for master to return my body to me." He jerked Grant's limp body once. His son coughed as Slade began to make a motion to walk past Dick.

However, Robin stood firm, "No, you've taken enough from me. I won't let you take him!" With that he swung and kicked at the demonic assassin in a lavish attack.

Without dropping Grant, Slade easily dodged and pushed away Robin's advances. Seemingly without any trouble at all, he plucked Dick's foot from the air and slammed him onto the rocky ground. With one hand, he grabbed the young struggling boy by the neck as well. He lifted Robin off the ground as if to appraise his worth.

"Look at you," Slade laughed darkly, "That attack was pathetic in comparison to how wonderfully you fought against Grant when you thought he was me." He chuckled again as Robin brought his hands up attempting to resist his devilish grip, "You spent everything you had fighting Grant and now you've got nothing left. You are _weak, _which is why it was so easy to have my way with you; and why I shall take what I want from you. Don't you see? You belong to me."

"Hmm," Slade continued after a pause where he watched Robin twist about a bit more. Lowering him down he slammed Robin against an upright concrete slab, "Perhaps, before Grant and I leave, I shall leave my mark on you too so that you will remember that you will always be mine."

Full of agony, Dick screamed. He could feel his skin bubbling and melting under Slade's grip. Slowly, he felt the pain sear down his throat to his chest, enveloping his entire body in excruciating torture. In patches on his chest and abdomen, his very suit began to peel away from the sheer intensity of the torturous heat. Dick squeezed his eyes shut as he continued to scream, his lungs burning infinitely.

"_Now! Let me have you know!" Addie's frantic voice urged, "You will not survive this, Grayson!"_

Robin's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he was too weak to scream anymore. With one final struggled breath, Dick's body grew limp.

"Pity," Slade mused at the barely breathing boy in his grasp, "Your body was so perfect too."

Just as he began to relax his grip around Dick's neck, Dick's arm twitched. Before Slade knew it had him by the collar and had pulled him in close.

The slick surface of the Red X suit undulated as its edges quickly slithered across Dick's body, covering his wounds and filling its ragged holes. Robin's head whipped up, his eyes wide and glowing. They glowed so hotly and were so intensely gold that then even showed from behind the bone white mask. Quickly, the red Xs across Robin's head and his chest seeped back to the surface of the suit.

"What is this," Slade dropped Grant to the ground as a Xynothium clawed hand dug into his wrist.

"How you dare touch my son," Addie growled as she ripped Slade's clutch from around her neck. Like a thin twig, the assassin's arm snapped and dislocated as she wrenched his arm around.

Though shocked momentarily, Slade brought his other hand up and shot a wave of continuous fire at the reawakened ghost. Releasing her husband from her grip, she leapt back several feet, while rendering a large knight's shield completely out of Xynothium. She bowed her head, knelling behind it as Slade's fire storm washed over and around her.

As the Xynothium began to bend and melt with the heat, Addie reached into her belt, producing several familiar, blinking disks.

Quickly, despite being licked by flames, the resurrected woman threw the disks, spinning, straight for Slade. There was a puff of frost as the first few discs, unable to withstand the fire wave, destructed before reaching Slade. However, they had dispersed the flames just enough for the ones behind it to fly further and detonate on impact. In a flash of ice and sparkling snow, they froze Slade in place. Jagged ice crystals spread thickly and swiftly across the ground surrounding Slade as Addie ran at him.

Though he had shattered out of the ice shell while Addie was still quite far off, Slade barely had time to blink when she was nearly on top of him. With spinning finesse, she swung at him with two broad, red scimitars.

"_Amazing,_ The thought brushed briefly across Slade's mind, "_She doesn't even need to use a base object to render a Xynothium weapon."_

He ducked and rolled, avoiding the shining Xynothium blades. Quickly, Slade extended his flaming staff. Soon, the evening was filled with the ringing of steel and metal once again.

_Ching! _Addie screeched, an inhuman noise escaping her lungs as she locked Slade's staff in between her curved, red blades. Even though the demonic fire began to quickly incinerate her swords, Addie continued pumped Xynothium out of her palms and along the sword, constantly filling in and reforming the blades.

Slade's eye grew wide. _Amazing…_

Giving a final heave and shout, Addie managed to break Slade's hold on his burning staff, flinging it away. It spun several times in the air, its fire going out quickly as it grew smaller in the distance.

Without further hesitation, Addie retracted one of her Xynothium scimitars and lunged at Slade, driving her final blade through his abdomen. What appeared to be black, dry sand, instead of blood, fell freely from his wounds.

"Addie," Slade gasped, "darling, is that you? You've finally returned to me?"

"Slade," Addie clicked her jaw that seemed slightly wider and out of place than normal, "I loved you once…but once was enough." She quickly retracted her blade back under her skin.

With an inhuman scream that seemed to stretch her sagging jaw wider, she dug her claws deep into Slade, raised him above her head, and threw him down the swirling fire portal that had remained open since he and Grant had appeared on the street.

When the portal closed quickly behind Slade, she roared again, as if in victory. Her multi-harmonic shout echoed throughout the ruined streets.

However, contrary to this display of domination, Addie soon collapsed adjacent to Grant whose eyes had never left her while he had lying prone against the rocky earth.

"Mother," Grant murmured gazing at the convulsing body that had fallen next to him, "Dick…" Finally able to control his body again, the Ravager pushed himself off the ground and crawled next to Dick's body.

"Dick? Can you hear me?" When Grant pulled the mask from Dick's face he gasped. Robin's irises were still golden and the burns across his face from their earlier fight were completely black and had grown larger and deeper. "Dick…you idiot…why did you have to go and put her back on?"

Grant cried harder as he heard broken fragments of his mother's words escaping from Dick's lips, "We made a deal…my little knight…my lucky boy…I-I'm here now…and they will all pay…bleed…"

"Raven," Grant spoke to the young girl who had finally regained consciousness and enough strength to hobble over, "What's happening to him?"

"Based on what he's saying," Raven's eyes grew sad, "it appears that he has made a pact with your mother to forfeit his body to her in order to defeat Slade. Instinctively though, his mind or soul is still trying to hold on to the body despite their deal. Given enough time, however, he won't be able to……their agreement will be eventually honored."

Grant sobbed, "No. NO! This is not the way Dick should die. His last words shouldn't be screams. My father, Slade, shouldn't be the last person he sees. He should be happy…he should be old when he dies. I will not allow this." He began to turn Dick's body over despite his body's contractions and jerking.

Raven stopped him with a light touch on his hands, "We need to honor their deal."

"Raven, we're going to lose them both if we allow the suit to consume him! The suit didn't heal Dick's burns and wounds, it only covered them up. Due to its nature to seek the user's blood, it will only make them worse as it tries to burrow into them. Even if we allow my mother to over take him, his body will not be strong enough to support her life, despite her healing capabilities. We're going to lose them both, if we don't do something!"

The Ravager grabbed a nearby scrap of jagged metal and began to pry gently at the seam in the back of the Red X suit, "We have to get this off of him!"

"She's not going to let go of his body so easily, you know." Raven said as she watched the edge of the suit that the Ravager had pried up, quickly snap back and anneal into place again, "She's just not going to give up and die."

"Then," Grant said, the salt water streaming off of his chin, "I'll put her on. She can survive in me and have my body when I die."

"Grant…" Raven trailed off.

"Why not, huh?" Jagged piece of metal in hand, Grant began to tease out the seam of the suit again, "My wounds aren't as bad as Dick's and with any luck, the suit's healing abilities will help me along. Half my DNA is from her, anyways. So I should be a near match for the suit and she shouldn't reject me, right?"

Finally gaining hold of the edge of the fabric again, Grant began to spread the seam apart. "Raven," he looked up at her, "I know you may not be at full strength, but do you think you could hold him down for me?"

Raven lowered her head.

"Please, Raven."

After some hesitation, Raven knelt down. Taking the young man into her arms, she held him tight.

"No! NOOO! We had a deal!" Dick shook his head, wailing in protest as Grant pulled at the edge of the costume, "This is my body, Grant! Mine! We had a deal!"

"Shh shhh," Grant whispered, stopping momentarily, "Mother…"

"Nooo! We had a deal! My body!"

"Mother! It's time to go home."

"Home?"

"Yes. Come with me, Mother," he stroked her cheek with the back of his finger.

"Grant," Dick smiled, "My little knight...come to save me…take me home, fair prince."

"Yes, my lady…"

Raven held Dick close as Grant continued to cut the costume from Dick's body.

"I'm sorry, Dick…" With a firm pull he jerked the corner of the costume up, and quickly began cutting the red, thread like adhesions that bonded the suit to Dick's skin.

Instantly, Robin began to scream in agony, again. He trashed against Raven's firm embrace. _It felt as if he was being skinned alive!_

Grant clenched his jaw, trying to suppress the flow of his tears as he dragged the sharp piece of steel along Dick's body. It was excruciating to hear him scream so painfully.

* * *

When they had finally finished, Dick's head dropped back, his body finally passing out from the shock of the pain. Raven removed her own cloak and wrapped it around Dick.

After Grant had made the final cuts to his own body and slipped on the Red X suit, save for the mask, he paused. Without a word, he brushed the hair away that had fallen in Dick's face and ran his hand across his smooth cheek. His hand hesitated for a moment on Dick's delicate jaw. Slowly he pressed his lips against, Dick's motionless ones, holding them there for an extended second before pulling back.

"Grant," Raven called out to Grant just as he was about to slip on the white skeleton mask, "You know that once you put her on, she'll be constantly scratching inside you to get out. You're going to have to fight and struggle against her every day."

Grant nodded.

"She also likes to settle in the part of your brain that has to do with memory, Grant," Raven added, "You saw what she did to Dick's memories. It's possible that now that she is stronger that you may not be the same person after you put that mask on. You may not even remember this conversation."

The blonde closed his eyes and nodded again, "But if this is the only way I can save Dick, then..." he trailed off and opened his eyes again. He smiled gently at Raven, "Take care of Dick for me."

Taking a deep breath, Grant quickly slipped on the cowl. Afterwards, the last thing he could vaguely remember was hearing himself scream at the top of his lungs.

"Grant?" Raven called out again. The former assassin had frozen in place, his chin pointing skyward and his screams having long since subsided.

Suddenly, his body snapped to life again and the next thing Raven knew she was staring down a Xynothium rendered, double edged broad sword. She hugged Dick in close.

A throaty growl emanated from Grant's throat. As Grant wound the blade back, Raven squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself over Dick as if to shield him.

However, after a moment, when nothing happened, Raven slowly opened her eyes, just in time to see Red X leap away and grow smaller in the distance.

**Additional Author's Notes:** Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please read onto the epilogue! And let me know what you think! :)


	10. Epilogue: Reawakening

**Disclaimer:** The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.

* * *

**Epilogue: Reawakening**

_(Several months later…)_

A gentle breeze rustled through the ivy that clung to the side of the old estate as Raven stepped through the overgrown flower garden.

"Hello?" Shifting the full grocery bag to the crook of her waist, she knocked on the side door lightly before opening it, "Joseph? Rose?"

Just as she placed the groceries onto the round dinner table, Jericho, sitting in a wheelchair, wheeled into the opposite doorway. He waved and smiled widely.

"Hey, look you," Raven walked over and hugged him, "Up and about already. Physical therapy must be going well."

Still grinning, Joseph shrugged.

"Where's Rose?"

Jericho turned and pointed at the couch in the foyer where the young girl lay fast asleep.

"She's been training hard, hasn't she?"

Joseph nodded. After a moment he beckoned Raven over to have a seat at the table where he had set out a pot of tea.

As they waited for the lumps of sugar to melt in their steaming cups, they turned to each other, interlocked hands, and closed their eyes.

"I can't thank you and the Titans enough for everything you've all done for us," Joseph said as soon as the bright light had subsided and they had entered the nether plane.

"It's the least we could do after all your help," Raven replied.

"You know, the reason why Rose is training so hard now is because she tells me she wants to be a Titan."

"Oh yeah?"

"She really looks up to you guys."

"Well she definitely has what it takes to join us. Once she thinks she's ready we'll have to have you both come over to the tower and run it by Robin." Raven squeezed Joseph's hands, "And you're more than welcomed to join us as well."

Joseph nodded and looked down at his feet as if thinking. "How is Dick doing now?" He looked up again.

This time Raven cast her eyes to the pure white floor, "He's doing well. He seems to be in good spirits and he no longer seems to be having any trouble connecting with the Titans anymore. It appears that he now remembers why he has feelings for us." Raven gave a slight smile that soon melted.

"However, since Addie has been removed from him he seems to have no memory of the time during which she was in his mind. He has no recollections of Grant and only vaguely recalls the time he had spent as Slade's apprentice."

"I see," Joseph looked down again, staring past their hands, "and have you heard anything from my brother yet?"

"I'm afraid not. We have run into him a few times on patrol and you may have seen him on the news. He's become thief that goes by the alias 'Red X,' which perplexes the Titans since the others had thought that only Robin was Red X. Joseph," she ran her thumb once over his smooth knuckles, "I fear that his memory may be in further disarray than Robin's. I can hardly imagine his constant suffering and the turmoil he may be going through. Not only must he continuously fight Addie's presence in his mind, but he most likely has no idea who he is or who, if anyone, cares for him." Raven squeezed Jericho's hands again, "I'm sorry, Joseph."

"It's alright," he squeezed her hands back, "It was a sacrifice he wanted to make. However, the day his memories return, Rose and I will be here, waiting for him."

* * *

_(Later that night…)_

"So what was your name again? Red Neck?" Robin called out to the familiar cat burglar at the other end of the jewelry shop.

"Oh it's you again, Kid. Call me crazy, but for some reason a part of me was actually hoping you'd show up," Red playfully juggled a few small bags of jewels as he spoke, " And, by the way, the name's Red X. Remember it, OK?"

Dick chuckled, "'Red X,' huh?" With a quick flick of his wrist, he threw is birderang across the store. _Thunk!_ Before the thief had any time to react, the birderang had already sunk into the wall behind him, pinning 2 of the small jeweler's bags he was juggling against it.

"Wow, I'm not gonna lie. That was kinda cool, Kid," the thief retorted, stuffing the third pouch of jewels into his utility belt. He whipped around quickly, just in time to engage Dick in combat.

To much of Dick's dismay, they seemed to be equally matched. Despite his swiftness, he could not manage to land even a single blow on Red X.

"Oh come on, Kid! X marks the spot!" The thief taunted.

Then again, as they continued their combative waltz across the store, Robin noticed that none of the thief's attacks were connecting either.

Finally, when the sound of approaching sirens had distracted Red X's concentration for a split second, Dick found an opening and pinned the thief against the wall with his Bo staff pressed firmly across his chest.

"Didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to steal, Red?" Robin couldn't help but reveal the smile that had been brewing inside him since he had first caught site of the thief.

X shrugged.

Somehow with a shift of his feet and a small heave he managed to push Dick off of him and reverse their positions. The Bo staff dropped to the ground and resonated dully as it rolled off somewhere to the side. Red pushed Robin flat against the wall. Holding Dick's wrists high above his head, the thief fastened them to the wall with Xynothium goop.

"What can I say?" He whispered, leaning in close to Dick," I like pretty things."

His breath was warm against Dick's face as he ran his fingertips down along smooth his jaw line.

Robin's nostrils flared, his breath quickening. The thief's heart also began to race, as he was uncertain as to why his fingers lingered on Robin's blushing face.

When the sound of the sirens had finally reached their location, Red X glanced over his shoulder. Without another word, he stepped back and in one flourish of his tattered cape he was gone.

Goosebumps remained on Dick's skin even after the thief had left.

"Red X…" Robin murmured to himself. Dick didn't know why, but he couldn't stop smiling for the life of him, "Red X…"

**End**

* * *

**Author's notes:** And there you have it. *cries*

This was my first pairing ever (my first fic was "Red Robin") and I'm really sad that it's all coming to an end. Thank you for reading and sticking with me, everyone, and giving this rare pairing as well as me a chance!

(I had not originally intended to use the canon character Grant Wilson so extensively, but somehow things sort of wrote themselves that way, heh. I wonder why they didn't have more fun with him before killing him off in the comics.)

Sadly, after this fic, I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue this pairing. Though I suppose I said the same thing at the end of "Red Robin" and I ended up writing this, LOL. We'll see if the ideas come, but odds are this is probably it for Ravager I x Robin. That is, unless you guys really want me to continue the rare pairing, let me know and I'll try to think of something (because I do it all for you guys!) (Though I guess at any rate if this were to continue it'd turn into RedXxRobin, wouldn't it? Hehe.)

Specific thanks to Loopylouise123 for being one of my best reviewers ever and always commenting and encouraging me to write more; thanks to The Villian's Vindication for your comments and support as well; and thanks to Raika Katsuya for requesting more closure for Dick and giving me the final push to write this. (there are so few of you who reviewed, I can properly thank you all individually :) )

Please feel free to let me know your reactions and thoughts about the fic as a whole or even about the final chapters/epilogue. I love hearing from you guys! (tips and constructive criticism are welcomed too!)

Well it's been fun. Thank you so much, everyone! See you around,

FlyinBison

PS…if you're curious, my next project that I will be working on is a short and subtle MaesXRoy FMA fic (called "In the Dark"). I posted ch 1 a while back and took a hiatus from it to finish this fic ;p. So feel free to check that out too if you'd like.


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